GREAT BRITAIN THE LOSS OF LUTON THE BOOMING AUTOMOBILE-MAKING TOWN OF LUTON, 
TORY PARTY CHAIRMAN JOHN HARE DECLARED RECENTLY, IS " A MICROCOSM 
OF THE BRITAIN WE ARE BUILDING . " IF SO, IT 
MAY BE THE SOCIALISTS WHO WILL TAKE OVER THE CONSTRUCTION JOB 
. AT A BY-ELECTION LAST WEEK IN LUTON, 30 MILES NORTHWEST 
OF LONDON, VOTERS ELECTED A LABOR M.P . FOR THE FIRST 
TIME IN 13 YEARS, TURNING THE TORIES' 1959 MAJORITY OF 5,000 
VOTES INTO A THUMPING 3,749-VOTE MARGIN FOR LABOR . THE SWITCH, 
PRONOUNCED LABOR PARTY LEADER HAROLD WILSON TRIUMPHANTLY, WAS CLEAR PROOF THAT 
" THE CONSERVATIVE GOVERNMENT HAS TOTALLY LOST THE CONFIDENCE OF THE 
COUNTRY . " NEXT DAY THE TORIES HAD ONE TO TALK 
ABOUT, WHEN BALLOTS WERE AT LAST COUNTED AFTER ANOTHER BY-ELECTION IN 
THE SPRAWLING SCOTTISH CONSTITUENCY OF KINROSS AND WEST PERTHSHIRE . THERE, 
IN ONE OF BRITAIN'S SAFEST TORY SEATS, TORY PRIME MINISTER LORD 
HOME NOW PLAIN SIR ALEC DOUGLAS-HOME WON A SEAT IN THE 
HOUSE OF COMMONS . HIS 9,328-VOTE MARGIN EXCEEDED HIS PARTY'S MOST 
BUOYANT EXPECTATIONS . WHAT'S MORE, IN THE COURSE OF 72 SPEECHES 
AND A HECTIC ELEVEN-DAY CAMPAIGN, THE FORMER PEER PROVED THAT HE 
IS A VIGOROUS, TOUGHMINDED POLITICIAN WHO SEEMS WELLEQUIPPED TO HOLD HIS 
OWN IN PARLIAMENTARY FREE-FOR-ALL . HE WILL HAVE TO . IN 
THE KIND OF MARGINAL SEAT THAT MATTERS MOST, LIKE LUTON, TORIES 
ARE FARING BADLY . WHAT TROUBLES THE TORIES IS THAT LUTON 
IS A SIGN OF TORY AFFLUENCE, WITH INDUSTRIAL PAYROLLS THAT HAVE 
BOOSTED WAGE LEVELS 20 PER CENT ABOVE THE NATIONAL AVERAGE . 
LUTON HAS A BIGGER-THAN-AVERAGE SHARE OF THE FASTGROWING MIDDLE CLASS THAT 
HAS KEPT THE CONSERVATIVES IN OFFICE FOR TWELVE YEARS . LABOR 
CANDIDATE WILL HOWIE, 39, A NEAT, BESPECTACLED CIVIL ENGINEER, WON OUT 
OVER TORY SIR JOHN FLETCHER-COOKE, 52, A TWEEDY, MUSTACHED FORMER COLONIAL 
ADMINISTRATOR, BY PROMISING LUTON THE NEW SCHOOLS, HOUSING AND INDUSTRIAL EXPANSION 
THAT LABOR IS PRAGMATICALLY BUILDING ITS ELECTION HOPES AROUND . BEFORE 
RETURNING TO LONDON FOR PARLIAMENT'S REOPENING THIS WEEK, DOUGLASHOME, THE NEW 
M.P . FOR KINROSS, REMAINED PROFESSIONALLY OPTIMISTIC : " LUTON WAS 
THE LAST PAGE OF THE OLD CHAPTER . KINROSS IS THE 
FIRST PAGE OF THE NEW . / 