17 JUNE 1938, Page 6

* * * * " The speech [Mr. Lloyd George's]

was a characteristic and brilliant effort. Will it turn the scale in the Stafford election ? " asked one of the ex-Prime Minister's strongest admirers three days before the polling. There is a good deal of reason to think it helped to tilt- the scale, if not to turn it. The Government's majority was increased, beyond all expectation, by 750 votes, and the reasonable interpretation to put on the Stafford result, following on that of West Derbyshire and Mid-Bucks, is that the voters of this country have a profound distrust of the irresponsibility displayed by various Opposition leaders in their assaults on the Government. The verdict of Barnsley, hitherto a strongly-held Labour seat, will be of special interest.