Earl Clement Attlee is interviewed on his 80th birthday on how he feels the UN has developed, why the Labour Party has struggled to form a majority in the House of Commons, and whether there should be television in the Commons chamber.

Earl Attlee interview; Part 2 of 3 ENGLAND: London: INT CS Earl (Clement) Attlee intvw SOF Q: LORD ATTLEE - YOU WERE AT THE FOUNDING MEETING OF THE UNITED NATIONS / HOW DO YOU FEEL THAT THE UN HAS DEVELOPED - Well, it has developed to some extent not as far as it ought to have / that was partly due to the fact that very soon after its formation the Russians took their own line and you got the Cold War / secondly looking back now, although it was impossible at the time, essential for a real United Nations is some degree of surrender of sovereignty - particularly on war and peace annulments / we couldn't affect that at the time Q: ARE YOU CONCERNED THAT NOW SUCH A LARGE PROPORTION OF THE UNITED NATIONS NOW COMES FROM THE AFRO ASIAN BLOCK - I don't mind that - but I think you've got to have a re-organisation of the United Nations to give proper weight not only to population but to status Q: IN AN ARTICLE ABOUT YOU IN A SUNDAY NEWSPAPER, IT SUGGESTED THAT YOU WERE THE ONLY LEADER THE LABOUR PARTY HAS HAD WHICH HAS BEEN ABLE TO KEEP IT TOGETHER / DO YOU THINK THIS IS TRUE - Oh, I think someone else might have done it quite as well Q: WHY DO YOU THINK THAT THE LABOUR PARTY HAS ONLY HAD A MAJORITY IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS FOR SIX YEARS OUT OF HALF A CENTURY - Well, there are various reasons / a certain amount of disunity unfortunately / a pity they didn't hold together more closely" Q: DO YOU THINK THE LABOUR PARTY HAS SOMETIMES BEEN TOO SLOW TO CHANGE ITS IDEAS - Possibly Q: IT'S OFTEN SUGGESTED NOWADAYS THAT THE ROLE OF PARLIAMENT IS DECLINING / DO YOU THINK IN THE FORTY YEARS SINCE YOU FIRST BECAME AN MP THIS HAS BEEN TRUE - I don't think so / the only thing is that it doesn't get the publicity it used to / that doesn't apply only to Parliament / when I was young you know - the Parliament and the Law Courts had great publicity / now of course they have the competition of your television MP and so forth / and that makes a difference / in jus...