Tory speakers—‘Work harder’

The General Election in October will be between the Conservative and the Labour Parties. The Liberals are an irrelevant force, the Rt. Hon. Sir Richard Nugent, M.P. for Guildford, told members at the Finchley and Friern Barnet Conservative Women's Advisory Committee at their annual luncheon on Thursday last week.

Sir Richard was guest speaker at the luncheon at the Hendon Hall Hotel, Hendon, which was attended by over 200 Conservative ladies.

He said they had just achieved a very wonderful result in Barnet in the Greater London Council elections with a poll of 54 per cent, the highest in London. This reflected the hard work they had put in on canvassing.

“I know you have had a great deal of anxiety over the Liberals in this district but you have overtaken them steadily” , said Sir Richard.

“You can win the votes in October if you point out to people that they have got to make up their minds between the Labour and Conservative parties. The Liberals cannot have any influence at all in Westminster. The doorstep is the place where elections are won and lost.”

Sir Richard said the Labour Party had not changed. Their policy was still the same—a tighter hold on industry. “The effect is bound to be disastrous for the productive power of this country.”

Replying to the toast to the Conservative party Mrs. Margaret Thatcher, MP for Finchley and Friern Barnet, said she thought it was a splendid idea to have a luncheon between victories.

Mrs. Thatcher told the ladies that if Mr. Harold Wilson 's party was returned the country would have the nearest thing to one man government that it had seen since Cromwell.

“We should always be wary of socialist promises. They are usually made with private enterprise money. It is the people, we the middle classes, who will have to pay the penalty of socialism in increased taxes” , warned Mrs. Thatcher.

Shot in arm

In proposing the toast to the guests, Mrs. Mary Young, of North Ward, said the women of the Conservative party would fight to win both the local and General elections. The G.L.C. elections had provided a shot in the arm for them and now they would go out to canvas—revitalised.

Mrs. M. G. Hull, vice chairman of the Greater London Conservative Women's advisory committee replied to the toast.

Urging the women to get out and fight Mrs. W. D. M. Mackrill, chairman of the Advisory Committee, who presided at the luncheon, said they could only relax when both the forthcoming elections had been won.

Mr. Vic Usher, chairman of the Finchley and Friern Barnet Conservative Association, urged them to be proud of the fact they were Conservatives.

He spoke of the witch hunt that had been set up over the revelations about Gateway House (made exclusively in the Finchley Press) and the fact that the Liberals issued a broad sheet against this paper. “I can think of no finer form of publicity for any newspaper,” said Mr. Usher.

Guests at the luncheon included Lady Nugent, Cty. Ald. Mrs. F. Timpson, chairman of the Middlesex County Council, Association and Ward officials, also a number of candidates in the elections. The total attendance was a record for this annual function.