LONDON LETTER
141
areas so much under-represented that the Conservatives consistently
win a far higher proportion of seats than their share in the total vote
entitles them to. Secondly, the electorate seldom have a chance to vote
for anyone except the nominees of the party machines. In the Conser–
vative Party safe seats are peddled round to men rich enough to "keep
up" the seat (contributions to local charities, etc.), and no doubt to pay
an agreed sum into the party funds as well. Labor Party candidates are
selected for their political docility, and a proportion of the Labor MP's
are always elderly trade-union officials who have been allotted a seat
as a kind of pension. Naturally, these men are even more slavishly
obedient to the party machine than the Tories. To any MP who shows
signs of independent thought the same threat is always applied-"We
won't support you at the next election." In practice a candidate cannot
win an election against the opposition of his own party machine, unless
the inhabitants of that locality have some special reason for admiring
him personally. But the party system has destroyed the territorial basis
of politics. Few MP's have any connection with their constituency, even
to the extent of living there: many have •never seen it till they go down
to fight their first election. At this moment Parliament is more than
usually unrepresentative because, owing to the war, literally millions of
people are disenfranchised. There has been no register of voters since
1939, which means that no one under 25, and no one who has changed
his place of residence, now has a vote; for practical purposes the men
in the forces are disenfranchised as well. On the whole, the people who
have lost their votes are those who would vote against the Government.
It is fair to add that in the general mechanics of an election in England
there is no dirty work-no intimidation, no miscounting of votes or
direct bribery, and the ballot is genuinely secret.
The feeling that Parliament has lost its importance is very wide–
spread. The electorate are conscious of having no control over their
MP's; the MP's are conscious that it is not they who are directing
affairs. All major decisions, whether to go to war, whether to open a
second front, and where, which power to go into alliance with, and so
forth, are taken by an Inner Cabinet which acts first and announces the
fait accompli afterwards. Theoretically, Parliament has the power to
overthrow the Government if it wishes, but the party machines can
usually prevent this. The average MP, or even a minor member of the
Government, has no more information about what is going on than any
reader of the
Times.
There is an extra hurdle for any progressive policy
in the House of Lords, which has supposedly been shorn of its powers
but still has the power of obstruction. In all, only two or three bills
thrown out by the Lords have ever been forced through by the Commons.
Seeing all this, people of every political color simply lose interest in Par–
liament, which they refer to as "the talking shop." One cannot judge
from wartime, but for years before the war the percentage of the elec-
