Sir Archibald Sinclair, however, brought the debate back into the
ordinary channels of party controversy. He roundly attacked Mr. Greenwood for his contention that a salary to the Leader of the Opposition meant official recognition of the importance of the Opposition, and insisted that it was an altogether new view of the functions of an Opposition that " it needed to get the countenance of the Government before it could be recognised as such." He opposed the new salaries as being on far too lavish a scale. This was of course the view also of Mr. Maxton who followed in his best vein of sustained mockery. He pretended that when the Home Secretary had been speaking he had mixed up the Schedules of the two Bills—the Salaries Bill and the Army and Air Force Annual Bill, and on turning to what he had thought was that giving £5,000 a year to Cabinet Ministers he had found instead " lodging and attendance for a soldier where meals furnished, tenpence a night."
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