Dell Laughs All the Way to the Bank

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After years of service to the Labour movement, scraping by on a mere Edmund Dell has decided to look after himself for a change-and return to his old trade-merchant banking.

He has in his period of office helped Callaghan and Healey pile up improved returns not only for his old firm of Guiness Peat but also for every other section of British capitalism.

Comfortable

As MP for Birkenhead, Dell has calmiy watched the moves to close the Western Shiprepairers firm, and countless other closures on Merseyside, knowing that his own future was not only secure but extremely comfortable.

His resignation from the government accompanied by an enthusiastic endorsement of Callaghan's pro-capitalist policies, raises once again the question of how such rabid reactionaries come to inhabit leading positions in the Labour movement.

From John Stonehouse to Lord George-Brown; from Reg Prentice to Lord Chalfont; from Christopher Mayhew to Sir Richard Marsh; the parade of former Labour cabinet ministers that have openly declared their dedication to capitalism against the working class is neverending.

How many more remain for the time being in the Labour leadership, awaiting only the offer of the right company directorship or quango position before making their move up the social ladder?

Demands

•Dell's defection spells out the futility of those peoplesuch as the 'Militant' groupwho continue to. address demands to the Callaghan cabinet in the expectation that these people can be "'pressurised" into changing their policies by the trade union movement or by the Labour Party itself.

Dell in particular was the subject of repeated appeals from 'Militant' to "act" on the closure of Western Shiprepairers.

His departure from the Labour leadership-and preferably the Party as well-is in fact the best action he could have taken.

PHOTO: Chris Davies, Report Prentice

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£14,500 ministerial salary, Callaghan's Trade Secretary