Thatcher Party Still Ahead in Polls Despite Labor Gain

As the hectic British general election campaign moved into its final 10 days, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s Conservative Party held grimly to its lead in the opinion polls Sunday, despite an unexpectedly strong showing by the main opposition Labor Party.

An average of eight opinion polls in recent days suggest that since the election was announced May 11, Labor has gained four percentage points to 34% and the Conservatives have held steady at 43%. The Alliance, a coalition of the Liberals and Social Democrats that hopes to become a major national player for the first time since its was formed six years ago, has slumped to 21%.

Thatcher is trying to become the first prime minister since the early 1800s to win a third consecutive term. Election day is June 11.

Competitive Edge

Initially, it was believed she would have little trouble achieving her goal. However, her opponents’ continued strength--despite a week in which Labor leader Neil Kinnock was under pressure over his party’s non-nuclear defense policies--has surprised political observers and kept a competitive edge in the campaign.

Labor has concentrated its campaign on pledges to revive the country’s beleaguered health-care and education systems and reduce high unemployment.

Kinnock remained confident Sunday, claiming that the campaign is going well and that Labor is gaining ground. He attacked Thatcher’s leadership style as uncaring and arrogant, a theme that Labor organizers say they plan to stress in the days ahead.

‘Concern About Arrogance’

“There is great concern about the arrogance she displays,” Kinnock said in a London radio interview. “It’s not entirely her fault; she only does what other people let her get away with.”

Thatcher, also speaking in a radio interview, switched from defense issues to her government’s economic achievements. She compared the Tories’ industrial relations record with a period of union strikes that paralyzed the country during the final months of Britain’s last Labor government in 1979.

“If you wanted division and conflict, lack of caring and compassion, you saw it in 1979,” she said. “That is when people were made to suffer as the unions took over the country.”

Thatcher appeared relaxed after a strong week in which she seemed to recover from a problem-plagued start to the campaign. During that week, she kept the spotlight squarely on defense, repeatedly scoring points over the less experienced Kinnock.

Labor’s election manifesto calls for dismantling Britain’s modest nuclear arsenal of 64 Polaris missiles and demands the withdrawal of U.S. nuclear forces based in Britain as part of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

Both arsenals are unpopular with British voters.

Surrender Seen

At one point last week, Kinnock seemed to admit that capitulation and enemy occupation would be his only alternative if the country were threatened with a Soviet nuclear attack.

The Tories quickly published full-page political ads depicting a surrendering British soldier with his arms held high and the caption: “Labor’s Arms Policy.”

Under intense press questioning, the 45 year-old Labor leader found himself drawn into discussing the idea of making an occupation untenable and then raised Afghanistan as an example of a nation mounting a guerrilla campaign against a Soviet invader.

Finally, he dismissed the whole idea of an invasion of Western Europe and Britain, stating “any (invasion) effort would be . . . utterly untenable, and any potential force knows that very well.”

After hearing that remark, Thatcher said: “I seem to remember that in 1940 that was not the case.”

In what was regarded as her best speech of the campaign to date, Thatcher told an enthusiastic rally in Birmingham on Thursday that Labor’s policies don’t mean less defense--they mean no defense.

‘One Sure Defense’

“There’s only one sure defense--for America and Britain to stand together as reliable allies and trusted friends,” she said.