GREAT BRITAIN INTO BATTLE " I'M LOOKING FORWARD TO THIS FIGHT, / 
SAID SIR ALEC DOUGLAS-HOME LAST WEEK . " I'M ALMOST SPOILING 
FOR IT . " HE DID NOT HAVE LONG TO SPOIL 
. NEXT DAY, AS PARLIAMENT REASSEMBLED, SHOUTING, LEAPING TORY BACKBENCHERS CHEERED 
LUSTILY WHILE THE NEWLY ELECTED MEMBER FOR KINROSS TOOK HIS OATH 
AS AN M.P . AND MOVED INTO HIS PLACE FOR THE 
FIRST TIME ON THE GOVERNMENT'S FRONT BENCH . PULLING OUT A 
SMALL RED AND GOLD BALLPOINT PEN, DOUGLAS-HOME HUNCHED DOWN IN HIS 
SEAT AND SCRIBBLED FURIOUSLY ON SLIPS OF PAPER FOR THE NEXT 
42 MINUTES WHILE LABOR PARTY LEADER HAROLD WILSON DELIVERED A CUTTING 
ATTACK ON THE GOVERNMENT . LIKE A POSTER . CLAIMING THAT 
THE TORIES' " MODERNIZATION " PLANS FOR NEW ROADS, SCHOOLS AND 
HOUSING WERE BORROWED FROM LABOR, WILSON SAID TARTLY : " IMITATION 
IS THE SINCEREST FORM OF POLITICAL DESPERATION . " WHY, HE 
CONTINUED, " HAVE WE HEARD SO LITTLE ABOUT MODERNIZATION IN THE 
PAST TWELVE YEARS ? I NEVER UNDERVALUE THE POWER OF REPENTANCE, 
BUT IT HAS TAKEN A VERY LONG TIME . " AMID 
CRIES OF APPROVAL AND DERISION FROM BOTH SIDES OF THE PACKED 
HOUSE, THE PRIME MINISTER ROSE, NERVOUSLY SHUFFLED HIS NOTES AND PLACED 
THEM NEATLY ON THE DISPATCH BOX IN FRONT OF HIM . 
" IT'S BEEN TWELVE YEARS SINCE I LAST SPOKE IN THIS 
HOUSE, " HE BEGAN. IN THE NEXT FEW MINUTES IT BECAME 
ALL TOO PLAIN THAT THE COZIER, CLUBBISH STYLE OF THE HOUSE 
OF LORDS HAD BLUNTED DOUGLAS-HOME'S DEBATING THRUST, AND HIS SUPPORTERS MISSED 
HIS USUAL PUNGENT WIT . AFTER A LONG, MEANDERING PREAMBLE, HE 
LAUNCHED INTO A LACKLUSTER EXPOSITION OF AMBITIOUS GOVERNMENT POLICIES FOR THE 
COMING YEAR . " THE FORMULA, " SAID HE FLATLY, " 
IS GROWTH WITHOUT INFLATION, AND THE METHOD, ACCELERATION FROM POSITIONS PREVIOUSLY 
PREPARED . " GROANED ONE CONSERVATIVE : " GOD, IT'S LIKE 
A TORY ELECTION POSTER ! " TWICE SIR ALEC EVEN MADE 
THE TACTICAL GAFFE OF REFERRING TO WILSON AS " POSSIBLE LATER 
PRIME MINISTER . " THE TORY BENCHES REMAINED DEATHLY SILENT WHILE 
LABOR'S TRIUMPHANT ROAR SURGED AROUND THE SLIGHT, PALE PRIME MINISTER . 
FIRMER GROUND . HE WENT ON MANFULLY, BUT AGAIN AND AGAIN 
LABOR'S UPROARIOUS BARRACKING SILENCED HIM FOR PAINFUL SECONDS AT A TIME 
. HE WADED THROUGH THE UNFAMILIAR MARSHES OF ECONOMICS, FINALLY REACHED 
FIRMER GROUND WHEN HE TURNED TO FOREIGN POLICY . STARING COLDLY 
AT WILSON, WHO WANTS TO ABANDON BRITAIN'S INDEPENDENT DETERRENT, SIR ALEC 
DECLARED THAT HE INTENDS TO MAKE THIS A CENTRAL ISSUE OF 
THE CAMPAIGN . ONCE BRITAIN RENOUNCES NUCLEAR ARMS, HE WARNED, " 
WE COULD NEVER GO BACK INTO THIS BUSINESS . THE GOVERNMENT 
MEANS TO RETAIN NUCLEAR FORCES UNDER OUR OWN CONTROL, " ADDING 
THAT WITHOUT THEM " WE WOULD NO LONGER HAVE A PLACE 
AT THE PEACE TABLE AS OF RIGHT . " THE CUBAN 
CRISIS, HE SAID, FORCED RUSSIA TO " MODIFY ITS TACTICS, " 
BUT " THE COMMUNIST AIM IS CLEARLY STILL UNCHANGED . IT 
IS TO DESTROY OUR WAY OF LIFE . " IN COLD 
TYPE NEXT DAY, HIS SPEECH READ CREDITABLY ENOUGH . BUT ON 
BOTH SIDES OF THE HOUSE THERE WAS AGREEMENT THAT THE PRIME 
MINISTER'S EAGERLY AWAITED COMMONS DEBUT HAD BEEN A DISAPPOINTING PERFORMANCE . 
HE SAT IN THE COMMONS FROM 1931 TO 1945 AS M.P 
. FOR SOUTH LANARK, WAS RE-ELECTED IN 1950 BUT WENT TO 
THE LORDS AFTER SUCCEEDING TO THE 14TH EARLDOM OF HOME IN 
1951 . 