A SPECTATOR 'S NOTEBOOK
I DON'T know where the idea that Mr. Churchill may before long
move to the House of Lords comes from. Someone has ascribed to it an American origin, and Mr. Bevin, following his not too agreeable habit of repeating on public platforms what were obviously previous conversations between colleagues, has given it a little further currency by suggesting that Mr. Churchill had said to him that he would only be here a year or two more anyway. I do not myself believe for a moment that the Prime Minister has any thought of going to the Lords, as a Duke or an Earl or anything else. Mr. Lloyd George did it, for reasons that can perhaps be divined, to the almost universal surprise and regret. Both those emotions would be aroused in an intensified form if Mr. Churchill were, incredibly, to follow the example of the last Victory Prime Minister, for Mr. Churchill alone among British statesmen is qualified to dispute the title of Great Commoner with the Great War leader for whom the term was coined. No title could add an iota to the distinction his deeds and demeanour have conferred on him; any obliteration of the name Winston Churchill could indeed be nothing but loss. But any suggestion that the Prime Minister contemplates leaving the House of Commons is likely to have a bad effect on his fortunes electorally. For that reason I hope he may see fit to explode the idea himself. * * * * .
One of the queer episodes of the election is the interchange between Mr. I. J. Pitman, the famous Oxford athlete, now, among other things, a Director of the Bank of England, and Sir Stafford Cripps. Mr. Pitman having charged Sir ' Stafford with having at one time told aeroplane workers to "down tools," Sir Stafford wrote pointing out that "such a statement if untrue is a moSt grave slander," and asking when and where he was alleged to have made the remarks ascribed to him—which, if ordinary words bear their ordinary meaning, plainly implies that the words were never used. Mr. Pitman rejoined by giving the place and date--Eastleigh, March 14, 1937, and added the name of his solicitor, in case legal action for slander was desired. The next move appears to be a speech by Sir Stafford at Bury last Sunday, in which he explained that his "stop making arms, stop recruiting for the Forces," speech was part of his efforts to get Mr. Chamberlain out of power, and he had not the slightest regret for it. But is he going to sue Mr. Pitman for having said that he said what he agrees that he did say? To make the affair odder, Sir Stafford was apparently trying to get Mr. Chamberlain out of power before he was in power. Mr. Bald-
win was Prime Minister in March, 1937.
* * * * I listened with interest to Mr. Alexander's demonstration on Monday evening of the superior efficiency of the United States over ourselves in industry after industry—coal, cotton, building, almost everything. This was cited as an argument for nationalisation, the reasoning being apparently at because free enterprise has been conspicuously successful in America we should abandon free enter- prise here. I have never been quite able to follow it. Mr. Alexander, it is true, was able to point to the success of the State mines in Holland, but they provide a slender basis for generalisations, their output in their peak year, 1937, being 14 million tons ; British mines in that year produced 240 millions. * * * *
The retirement of Sir Malcolm Robertson from the Chairmanship of the British Council leaves a highly important and reasonably lucrative post to be filled by the present Foreign Secretary or the - next (who I trust will be the same). I have not the least idea who will be appointed, but if the position were in my gift I should offer it first to Col. Walter Elliot, who possesses a rather unique com- bination of the qualities desirable in such an office. He has con- siderable experience of executive positions, a wide knowledge of foreign countries and a real flair for the choice of the right thing to be said or published to produce a given effect.' The British Council is concerned, and will be increasingly concerned, with im- parting genuine and disinterested information—something quite other than what is commonly known as propaganda—and the selection of that, or rather the direction of the selection, could be very safely left in Col. Ellioes hands. Whether he would accept the post is a question on which I possess no information.
* * * * The London Diocese has now been Bishopless—apart from its suffragans, of whom I speak with all respect—for close on six months. It should have been time enough for the discovery of a suitable suc- cessor. It is true that both the metropolis and the diocese still survive, the Dean of St. Paul's discharging most of the routine episcopal duties, but a diocese is usually assumed to be better off with a Bishop than without one, and it can hardly be intended to maintain the vacancy for ever. Meanwhile the impending retire- ment of the Bishop of Gloucester adds one more to the many sees which must soon be filled. There must be some pardonable excite- ment among the episcopapibili.
* * * * My_ comments last week on the value to walkers and others of a 3-in, to the mile map, if such a thing existed, has brought the information that something very like it—a 21 in..map—does exist, though it is not obtainable by the general public. It is published by the Ordnance Survey, but at present issued apparently only to public authorities. Why the general public should not have it is not clear ; it would serve their purpose well, except that since it has been photographed down from the 6-in. map the names of villages; roads, etc., have been reduced too much to be easily legible.
* * * * I have been sent an explanation of Mr. Attlee's statement, to which I made some reference last week, that it was Labour that put Mr. Churchill where he is. According to my informant, a Labour M.P., when Mr. Chamberlain decided to resign he asked the Opposition for their views on his successor; out of various names suggested Mr. Churchill was favoured so strongly that Mr. Chamberlain submitted his name to the King. I tell this as it was told to me.
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Taxi-cab signs. Someone suggests very sensibly a plate lettered on one side "Free" in one colour (preferably in luminous paint) and on the other "Engaged" in a different colour; the driver would turn the plate so that the desired indication was visible. Actually it would be enough to have a "Free" sign, which would of course be invisible when the cab was not free.
* * * * I am touché. It appears (and on reference back I cannot deny it) that I wrote a week or two ago: "One of the commodities that seems to be in short supply." There is no defence for this ; it is completely discreditable. As to a further offence,—the use of the term "issued with,"—adoption of the current jargon was deliberate,
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