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PASTOR'S REPORT, May 14, 1979
Page 10
ON THE WORLD SCENE
A TALE OF TWO ELECTIONS: Margaret Thatcher's triumph in the May 3rd
general elections i n Britain has raised a few hopes around the world that
Britain may indeed rebound a bit from the rather horrible mess it has
been in since the Labour Party came to power in 1974.
On the continent, the feeling in many quarters is that Britain may play
a more positive role again in the Common Market. In the words of the
German television network ZDF, "the new government will not make Brussels
responsible for every British illness."
To the beleaguered governments of southern Africa, who have smarted for
years under the pro-guerrilla posturing of former Foreign Secretary
David Owen, the Thatcher victory also brings hope of some even-handed
relief. The new black majority government of zjmbabwe Rhodesia feels
its chances of having economic sanctions lifted have definitely improved.
But, of course, even the Conservatives now in power in London will think
twice before openly alienating most of black Africa on this issue.
Certainly nothing will happen on this score until after the upcoming
Commonwealth ministers' conference to be held--unfortunately for Rhodesia's
sake--in neighboring Lusaka, Zambia. Mrs. Thatcher will be under intense
pressure to keep the sanctions on.
South Africa hopes that if negotiations to secure a U.N. approved inde
pendence in Namibia (South West Africa) break down, the Thatcher government
will nevertheless block any attempt to impose trade sanctions against
Pretoria.
At home, Mrs. Thatcher will of course be limited by many factors, includ
ing the strike-at-any-notice trade unions, in quickly carrying our much
needed economic reforms. After all, Britain has gone a long way down,
for a long time, in the wrong direction. In an article entitled "Thatcher's
Strategy: Half Steam Ahead," Business Week, in its May 21, 1979 issue
said this:
"Even Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's most enthusiastic supporters
harbor no illusions that the task confronting Britain's new Conservative
government will be an easy one. Her mandate, while strong enough to
allow her a full five-year term, was no landslide...The vote was not so
much a mandate for the Conservatives as a repudiation of the Laborites.
"Thatcher believes that time is on her side, and therefore, a deliberate
pace is called for. She intends to attack Britain's basic economic
problems--low investment and low productivity--in the same gradualist
way. Thatcher and her advisors see a reduction in personal income taxes,
the highlight of her first budget, as a direct incentive to small business
men to plow back profits."
In another part of the Commonwealth, election day is drawing near. On
May 22, Canadians will troop to the polls in one of that nation's most
critical elections ever.
The race at this time is too close to call. The latest poll puts incumbent
Liberal Party Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau ahead by one percent
age point--39% to 38%--over Progressive Conservative challenger Joe Clark,