GREAT BRITAIN THE FATEFUL WEEKS TO CELEBRATE HIS SIXTH FULL YEAR IN 
OFFICE THE LONGEST TERM FOR A TORY SINCE 1902 PRIME MINISTER 
HAROLD MACMILLAN WENT BEFORE THE CAMERAS FOR A TELEVISION INTERVIEW LAST 
WEEK . IT WAS A MASTERFUL PERFORMANCE . RELAXED AND CONFIDENT, 
MACMILLAN TALKED WITH EASY CONFIDENCE OF THE PROMISE AND PROBLEMS OF 
BRITAIN TODAY . OFF-CAMERA, THINGS WERE NOT GOING SO WELL AS 
HAROLD MACMILLAN MADE IT SEEM . BRITAIN'S HOPES OF MEMBERSHIP IN 
THE COMMON MARKET HUNG PRECARIOUSLY IN THE BALANCE . AFTER THE 
DECISIONS AT NASSAU, A QUESTION MARK ROSE OVER THE FUTURE OF 
ITS MILITARY POWER . THE LATEST GALLUP POLL SHOWED LABOR LEADING 
THE TORIES 45 PER CENT TO 36 PER CENT . MANY 
OF MACMILLAN'S OWN CONSERVATIVE PARTY BACKBENCHERS WERE CRITICAL OF THE GOVERNMENT 
FOR ITS INABILITY TO STOP THE GROWING UNEMPLOYMENT IN BRITAIN'S NORTH 
. REASON FOR CONFIDENCE . SEEKING A SOLUTION TO THE PROBLEM 
OF JOBS, MACMILLAN LAST WEEK GAVE LORD HAILSHAM A NEW MINISTERIAL 
TASK OF STUDYING THE NORTHEAST DEPRESSED AREAS, AND TOLD BIRMINGHAM BUSINESSMEN 
THAT " WITH A LITTLE BIT OF LUCK " THE ECONOMIC 
SLUMP MIGHT BE REVERSED THIS YEAR . AS ANOTHER WEAPON AGAINST 
POLITICAL DECLINE, MACMILLAN IS CLEARLY COUNTING ON ADMISSION TO THE COMMON 
MARKET DESPITE THE OVERWHELMING OBSTACLES AHEAD . ON TV HE SAID 
: " I BELIEVE THAT AS SOON AS THE COMMON MARKET 
IS SETTLED, AND AS SOON AS IT IS CLEAR THAT THERE 
WILL NOT BE ANOTHER SOCIALIST GOVERNMENT, YOU WILL FIND THE BUSINESSMEN 
REINVESTING ON A BIGGER SCALE THAN EVER BEFORE . THAT IS 
WHY I AM CONFIDENT ABOUT 1963 . " A DECISION ON 
COMMON MARKET ENTRY MAY BE IMMINENT . THIS WEEK BRITAIN'S CHIEF 
NEGOTIATOR EDWARD HEATH RETURNS TO BRUSSELS FOR A CRUCIAL ROUND OF 
NEGOTIATIONS WITH EUROPE'S SIX THE " CRUNCH " TALKS IN WHICH 
BRITAIN WILL HAVE TO AGREE TO . WHEN LORD SALISBURY RESIGNED 
AFTER A SEVEN YEAR TERM . DISMANTLE ITS OWN ELABORATE SYSTEM 
OR PERSUADE THE EUROPEANS TO EASE THEIR TERMS FOR ENTRY . 
SEEKING SUPPORT . IN PREPARATION FOR THE BRUSSELS MEETING, TED HEATH 
WENT TO CHEQUERS, MACMILLAN'S MINISTERIAL ESTATE, SPENT HOURS URGING HIS VIEWS 
ON WEST GERMANY'S VISITING FOREIGN MINISTER GERHARD SCHRODER, A CONSIDERABLE SYMPATHIZER 
. THEN HEATH CROSSED TO THE CONTINENT TO LINE UP ADDITIONAL 
SUPPORT FOR BRITAIN'S POSITION . HE TALKED WITH BELGIUM'S DEPUTY FOREIGN 
MINISTER HENRI FAYAT, WHO WANTS BRITAIN IN THE COMMON MARKET, AND 
WITH FRANCE'S FOREIGN MINISTER MAURICE COUVE DE MURVILLE, WHO FAITHFULLY ECHOED 
DE GAULLE'S RELUCTANCE TO LOWER THE BARS FOR BRITAIN . MACMILLAN 
HIMSELF WILL CONTINUE THE TASK ON HIS FEB . 1 VISIT 
TO ROME FOR MEETINGS WITH ITALY'S PRIME MINISTER AMINTORE FANFANI, DUE 
THIS WEEK IN WASHINGTON . AS FATE WOULD HAVE IT, THE 
TORIES WON RELIEF OF SORTS FROM THE DRUMFIRE OF CRITICISM AT 
HOME THROUGH A TRAGIC HAPPENSTANCE IN THE LABOR PARTY . HUGH 
GAITSKELL, LABOR'S CAPABLE, HARD-WORKING LEADER, WAS RUSHED TO LONDON'S MIDDLESEX HOSPITAL 
SUFFERING FROM PNEUMONIA, DOUBLE PLEURISY AND SEVERE PERIOCARDITIS . IN GREAT 
PAIN AND SCARCELY ABLE TO BREATHE, GAITSKELL WAS ALLOWED NO VISITORS 
EXCEPT HIS WIFE . SNAP PRESSURE . LABOR SPOKESMEN OFFICIALLY SPREAD 
THE NEWS THAT GAITSKELL WOULD BE BACK AT WORK WITHIN FIVE 
TO SIX WEEKS, BUT MEDICAL MEN THOUGHT THREE TO SIX MONTHS 
MORE LIKELY . THIS MEANS HE WILL NOT BE ABLE TO 
LEAD LABOR'S ATTACK ON BRITAIN'S COMMON MARKET ENTRY . IN FACT, 
TO LABOR'S ACUTE EMBARRASSMENT, THE MAN WHO BECOMES SPOKESMAN IN GAITSKELL'S 
PLACE IS DEPUTY LEADER GEORGE BROWN, WHO IS AS PRO-COMMON MARKET 
AS GAITSKELL AS ANTI . THE CONSERVATIVE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH PAID TRIBUTE 
TO GAITSKELL BY SUGGESTING THAT " WITHOUT HIM, THERE CAN BE 
NO ALTERNATIVE GOVERNMENT WORTH THE NAME . " SOME TORIES PROMPTLY 
URGED MACMILLAN TO CALL A SNAP GENERAL ELECTION WHILE LABOR IS 
VIRTUALLY LEADERLESS . BUT MACMILLAN WILL ALMOST CERTAINLY RESIST THE PRESSURE, 
SELECT HIS OWN TIME BETWEEN NOW AND OCTOBER 1964, THE DATE 
BY WHICH A GENERAL ELECTION MUST BE HELD . IF, DURING 
THE " CRUNCH " OF THE NEXT FEW WEEKS IN BRUSSELS, 
BRITAIN IS ADMITTED TO THE COMMON MARKET ON AN APPROXIMATION OF 
ITS OWN TERMS, AND IF THE STRAITENED ECONOMY REVIVES AS A 
CONSEQUENCE, THE GOVERNMENT WOULD BE IN AN EXCELLENT POSITION FOR A 
GENERAL ELECTION IN THE FALL . MACMILLAN, WHO WILL BE 69 
NEXT MONTH, SAID DURING HIS TV INTERVIEW THAT HE THOUGHT HE 
COULD PUT IN ANOTHER SIX YEARS ON THE JOB, AND ADDED 
JOKINGLY : " THE QUESTION IS WHETHER THE PEOPLE COULD STAND 
ANOTHER SIX . " THE ANSWER MAY BE LEARNED DURING THE 
COMING FATEFUL WEEKS IN BRUSSELS . 