GREAT BRITAIN WEEKEND IN WASHINGTON FROM THE SOLICITOUS RECEPTION HE GOT FROM 
THE NEW FRONTIER, THE LITTLE COLDEYED MAN WHO STEPPED OFF THE 
AIRLINER IN WASHINGTON MIGHT HAVE BEEN BRITAIN'S PRIME MINISTER RATHER THAN 
THE OPPOSITION LEADER . EVEN IN HIS OWN LABOR PARTY SIX 
MONTHS AGO, PIPE-PUFFING HAROLD WILSON WAS REGARDED AS A SLIPPERY OPPORTUNIST 
AND A CONSTANT THREAT TO THE PARTY'S HARDWON UNITY UNDER THE 
LATE HUGH GAITSKELL . THOUGH HIS VIEWS ON MOST MAJOR ISSUES 
WERE CALCULATEDLY MURKY, " LITTLE HAROLD, " AS HIS FOES CALL 
HIM, DREW LEFT-WING SUPPORT BY CONDEMNING U.S . HANDLING OF CUBA, 
CHEERING ON THE UNILATERALISTS, BITTERLY OPPOSING BRITAIN'S BID FOR COMMON MARKET 
MEMBERSHIP . HOWEVER, IT WAS NOT WILSON'S PAST THAT BROUGHT OUT 
WASHINGTON'S RED CARPET BUT HIS POTENTIAL FUTURE . EVEN THOUGH ELECTIONS 
WILL PROBABLY NOT BE CALLED FOR AT LEAST A YEAR, NO 
U.S . POLICYMAKER COULD IGNORE TODAY'S GALLUP POLLS, WHICH GIVE THE 
LABOR PARTY A RECORD 50 PER CENT TO 33F PER CENT 
LEAD OVER THE TORIES . IF THAT TREND SHOULD CONTINUE, HAROLD 
WILSON WOULD BE BRITAIN'S NEXT PRIME MINISTER . WHAT ADMINISTRATION OFFICIALS 
GOT LAST WEEK WAS AMPLE DEMONSTRATION OF THE FACT THAT SINCE 
GAITSKELL'S DEATH, THE FLINTY, QUICK-WITTED YORKSHIREMAN HAS HAD TO MOVE CLOSER 
TO THE POLITICAL CENTER TO HOLD THE PARTY TOGETHER AND TAKE 
HARD AND FAST STANDS ON WHICH BRITAIN'S ELECTORATE CAN WEIGH THE 
MERITS OF A LABOR GOVERNMENT . WILSON WAS PLAINLY ANXIOUS TO 
WIN THE NEW FRONTIER'S CONFIDENCE . AFTER AN INTENSIVE, FOUR-DAY ROUND 
OF CONFERENCES WITH PRESIDENT KENNEDY AND KEY ADMINISTRATIVE HANDS, THE LABOR 
LEADER'S VIEWS ON MOST OUTSTANDING WORLD ISSUES SEEMED NOW AT LEAST 
AS CLOSE TO U.S . POLICY AS HAROLD MACMILLAN'S . " 
DENEGOTIATION . " WILSON'S MOST REASSURING MESSAGE WAS THAT HE UNEQUIVOCALLY 
SUPPORTS NATO AS " THE CENTER OF OUR DEFENSE POLICY IN 
EUROPE . " TO THE DELIGHT OF THE DEFENSE DEPARTMENT, WHICH 
HAS LONG TRIED IN VAIN TO PERSUADE BRITAIN TO BUILD UP 
ITS CHRONICALLY INADEQUATE GROUND FORCES ON THE CONTINENT, WILSON ARGUED THAT 
BRITAIN COULD WELL AFFORD A STRONG ARMY IF, AS HE PROPOSES, 
IT WERE TO ELIMINATE ITS NUCLEAR STRIKE FORCE " THE SOCALLED 
INDEPENDENT, SO-CALLED BRITISH, SOCALLED DETERRENT . " THUS, IF ELECTED, WILSON 
WOULD " DENEGOTIATE " BRITAIN'S AGREEMENT AT NASSAU TO BUILD A 
POLARIS SUBMARINE FLEET, AND HOPE THEREBY TO DISCOURAGE OTHER NATIONS FROM 
BUILDING INDEPENDENT DETERRENTS . HE IS STRONGLY OPPOSED TO GIVING GERMANY 
A FINGER ON THE TRIGGER, WHICH " WOULD BE HIGHLY PROVOCATIVE 
TO THE SOVIET UNION AND MAKE IT EVEN HARDER TO GET 
AGREEMENTS, " PARTICULARLY ON THE MATTER OF DISARMAMENT . BELYING REPORTS 
THAT HE WAS " SOFT " ON WEST BERLIN, WILSON INSISTED 
THAT IT MUST REMAIN A FREE AND VIABLE CITY, AND THAT 
ALLIED TROOPS WOULD HAVE TO BE STATIONED THERE " FOR THE 
FORESEEABLE FUTURE . " RESERVATIONS . THERE WERE SOME ISSUES ON 
WHICH WILSON'S VIEWS WERE DIRECTLY AT ODDS WITH THOSE OF THE 
ADMINISTRATION ; U.S . OFFICIALS WERE INCLINED TO SHRUG THEM OFF 
AS LIP SERVICE TO LABOR'S LEFT WING . MOST IMPORTANT DIVERGENCE 
IS HIS SUPPORT FOR WITHDRAWAL OF NATO AND SOVIET TROOPS FROM 
CENTRAL EUROPE, MAKING " NUCLEAR-FREE " ZONES OF EAST AND WEST 
GERMANY AND HUNGARY A PROPOSAL THAT THE U.S . CONSIDERS IMPRACTICAL 
AND DANGEROUS . WILSON SEEMED AS WOBBLY AS EVER ON SOME 
QUESTIONS, NOTABLY THE COMMON MARKET, WHICH HE NOW CONDITIONALLY FAVORS . 
HE SUPPORTS GREATER EAST-WEST TRADE, WHICH IS NOT AN ADMINISTRATION GOAL, 
AND FAVORS SEATING COMMUNIST CHINA IN THE U.N., WHICH IS DIRECTLY 
CONTRARY TO U.S . POLICY, BUT HE TOLD U.S . OFFICIALS 
THAT THESE ARE NOT HIGH-PRIORITY AIMS . THESE VIEWS GAVE REASON 
FOR CONTINUED RESERVATIONS ABOUT HAROLD WILSON . MOREOVER, THOUGH HIS INCISIVE, 
PRAGMATIC STYLE UNDENIABLY IMPRESSED WASHINGTON, OLDER HEADS HAVE STILL TO BE 
PERSUADED THAT WILSON'S CONVICTIONS WILL NOT SHIFT AGAIN AS THEY HAVE 
SO MANY TIMES BEFORE . 