A SPECTATOR'S NOTEBOOK
M11. LLOYD GEORGE'S first speech on his so-called " new deal " will have been delivered before these words appear, so readers by that tune will know all about what his programme is. (By all accounts part . of it will bear a close resemblance to various unrealized aspirations in his election programme of 1918.) But what is to come of it is quite another matter. Suppose the programme captures the public iniagination. Suppose its author makes converts right and left and collects a following which he can swing where he will. That is unlikely, but not impossible. Into what camp will he try and swing them ? That he thinks of founding a new party himself at 72 is hardly credible, even for Mr. Lloyd George. I can hardly see him making overtures to Labour, or (in spite of rumours) accepting office in the National Government as at present constituted. The reports that he is really angling after the Young Conserva- tives got some sort of confirmation when Mr. Harold Macmillan set the clubs buzzing last week by endorsing Mr. Lloyd George's views on the Bank of .England, but I fancy that the Young Conservatives. (like Mr. Balfour when told of the rumour of his engagement to Miss Margot Tennant) prefer to make a career of their own. All things considered it looks as if the. effect, if not the intention, of Mr. Lloyd George's campaign would. be to apply stimulus to the Cabinet from outside—a service very well worth performing.
Previous page
