PEOPLE AND THINGS
By HAROLD NICOLSON
0 NE of the strangest incidents in Monday's memorable debate in the House of Commons was the reception accorded to Mr. Neville Chamberlain. Mr. Churchill, on enter- ing, had been greeted from all parts of the House with what can correctly be described as " sympathetic " cheers, since there was not a member who did not desire to demonstrate the sympathy felt for a man shouldering so great a burden at so sad a time. But when Mr. Chamberlain stalked in from behind the Speaker's chair he was greeted with an ovation verging upon a demonstration. He seemed startled for a moment by the virulent enthusiasm of his friends ; he hesitated, smiled, and made a stiff and bashful inclination of the head. The friends continued to roar applause ; one of the stoutest of his supporters, Mr. Walter Liddall, the Scunthorpe stalwart, actually yelled ; and Mr. Beverley Baxter rose in his seat and waved a little scrap of paper aloft.
Previous page
