P.M. AND O.M.
Sm,—I read with interest the suggestion made by " Janus " in your issue of December 29th that the Prime Minister should be given the Order of Merit, but at the same time I am not altogether in agreement with him. Mr. Lloyd George is at present the only political member of the Order, and I think that I am right in saying that since his promotion to this Order in 1919 it has never been given for political services. Moreover, doubt has been cast as to whether it was ever intended for political services, and after this long period it might well be left as a reward for other services. It is true that both the late Lord Haldane and the late Earl Balfour were members of it but they had other claims to such recognition. There is therefore something to be said for keeping it free from political considerations. The Prime Minister, as " Janus " hints, has other claims to recognition both as a writer of some of the finest English prose and as a historian. It might be bestowed upon him for these services alone. His services during the War have been so pre-eminent that any reward of this nature seems wholly inadequate.
B. B. F. WESTCOTr. Christ Church Vicarage, Bewick Road, Gateshead, 8.
[" Janus" writes: It was for national, or international, certainly not for " political," services that I thought, and think, the Prime Minister should have the 0.M.]
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