"THE DIRECTOR" DOESN'T LIKE LABOUR'S MEASURES from Dave Windsor I
The December issue of The Director, the journal of the institute of. Directors, contains articles sharply critioal of Labour's first moves. ae an editorial entitled "Can we work with these men?, it has this td say: "They hamstring free enterprise when individual initiative is nee aes want of encouragement, they breed inflation when the urgent need is to ete British goods more competitive, and they foster uncertainty in the Boardroomss Half-way through Mr. Wilson's 100 days this is the progress report which businessmen must issue - reluctantly because there was a willingness, and . doubtless there still is, to give the new and untried men at least a sporting chance." It goes on to query whether industry can be expected to support men who have show little regard for the businessmen's point of view, and adds: "If the socialists continue along the lines they have followed so far, free enterprise will give them a very dusty answer indeed."
Professor Colin Clark contributes a study of Mr. Wilson's economic policy statements in the same issue, He describes them as those of an “intelligent and forward-looking economist of the 1930s." ‘hat upsets Clark most of all is what he calls "its blatant protectionism and mercant= ilism," Furthermore, according to Clark, there is an impication that all imports are bad. He proceeds: "Mr. Wilson must be one of the few political leaders anywhere in the world to step right back into old-world protectionism; and the new surcharges will probably not be temporary. It is difficult to see how Mr, Wilson's proposals for restricting imports, agricultural as well as industrial, are to be reconciled with his plans for a council for developing Commonwealth trade - unless we read the work 'developing' in the Orwellian manner, to mean 'restricting''.
Whilst it is a pity that The Director is not taking Labour to task for instituting fully-fledged socialist policies, one can draw some comfort from the thought that it is when The Director is most enthusiastic about Labour that we have the most to worry about!