October 10 1958 Searing denunciation of false Socialist propaganda against the Rent Act and a promise of easier home ownership brought Mr Henry Brooke, Hampstead s MP and Minister of Housing and Local Government, a hero s ovation by 4,000 de

50 years ago

October 10 1958

Searing denunciation of false Socialist propaganda against the Rent Act and a promise of easier home ownership brought Mr Henry Brooke, Hampstead's MP and Minister of Housing and Local Government, a hero's ovation by 4,000 delegates at the Conservative Party conference at Blackpool. The former Financial Secretary to the Treasure, who piloted the Rent Act and has repudiated Socialist prophecies of mass evictions, turned on his attackers and accused them of causing unnecessary fear and misery. "A few months ago, I was being called the most hated man in Britain," he said. "Last week at the Labour Party conference in Scarborough the Rent Act was hardly mentioned. The tens of thousands of evictions which they had foretold had proved false."

After bitterly denouncing the behaviour of British troops in Cyprus, St Pancras council is to send a message of sympathy to Cypriot mayors expressing complete opposition to the partition of the island. Conservative members walked out in protest when the mayor ruled that the resolution was in order as being the proper concern of the borough council. There are 12,000 Cypriots in St Pancras, accounting for more than 11 per cent of the borough's population.

Parishioners will crowd into Hampstead Parish Church to see its new look after months of work on the building. The sanctuary, chancel and lady chapel have been redecorated and more than 70 years of grime, together with Victorian surface decorations considered over-ornate and fussy, have been removed. The intention was to get back to the 18th century simplicity of the church.