It cannot escape notice that the Prime Minister and the
whole Government have themselves to blame for this tone of the Press. The situation is that the Northcliffe Press is now in effect reminding the Prime Minister that that Press created him, that he cannot resist what is at once his constituency and his party, and that his constituents mean to exact from him their pound of flesh. " You know that we made you," they say in substance, " and we know that you know it. We shall act accordingly." The Prime Minister and the Government, we repeat, have themselves to blame because they did not resist the Press long ago. If they had refused to come to heel at the crack of Lord Northcliffe's whip, they would have enjoyed the admiration and support of by far the greater part of the nation. It would not have mattered in the least that Lord Northcliffe had helped the Prime Minister to office. A new constituency of supporters would have been found waiting to welcome him. But it looks, when we write, as if he is too late.
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