AT WESTMINSTER
AS soon as the lovely Prayer with which the House of Commons opens its sittings was over last Friday, the resolute little figure of Mr. Sydney Silverman was up, eager to challenge a decision that he could not ask the Home Secretary about the advice tendered to His Majesty as to the exercise of the Royal Prerogative of Mercy in certain recent cases. But the Speaker was firm. The advice the Home Secretary gave in such cases was not a matter on which he could be questioned. We touched, for a moment, one interesting aspect of our ancient Constitution. The debate which followed was all but monopolised by those who had a personal interest in the measure under discussion. This was, paradoxically, largely creditable to all concerned. For the debate was on the Second , . Reading of the Prize Bill. It was, we were told, to be the last occasion on which sailors (to whom some airmen had been added) could exercise their ancient right. Mr. " Stoker " Edwards, the Civil Lord, was generally cheered when he declared his interest earned by three and a half years' service at sea as a first-class stoker. Past members of the Royal Navy eagerly discussed the size of the slices which different ranks would receive. One or two soldiers present reflected quietly on the anomaly which rewards the crew of a ship which captures a trawler, while those who captured Rome receive nothing extra for their trouble.
* On Monday the stage was set for the great three-day battle on Steel. Mr. Strauss, the Minister of Supply, then moved the Second Reading of a Bill which he said had been called " Strauss's mouse." He said the object of his Bill was to make Britain's " iron and steel monopoly" the servant rather than the master of the British people. Mr. Oliver Lyttelton, who followed him from the Opposition Front Bench came to the real conclusion when he expressed his opinion that the Bill was a major move towards the centralisation of power in the hands of the State.
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On Tuesday the conflict was briefly postponed to enable the Prime Minister to pay a graceful tribute to the Royal House in moving a motion of congratulation on the birth of the infant Prince. Mr. Churchill supported the motion with characteristic majesty of language and the motion, which .is to be presented by Privy Councillors representing all political parties, was carried nemine (not even Mr. Gallacher) contradicente. * *
Mr. Churchill then resumed the attack on the Steel. Bill. It was an all-out attack mounted as he alone can mount an attack. Occasional interrupters regretted their temerity. His gift of the dramatic under-statement was exemplified by his " in the last forty years I have been from time to time much involved in our military arrangements." He was followed by Mr. Jack Jones, Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Supply, making his first appearance as a Minister in a debate on a major Bill. Despite an unhappy opening he carried on for over an hour without loss of self- confidence, no doubt fortified by his long connection with the steel industry. At the unusual hour, for a front bench speech, of 6.39 p.m. Sir John Anderson intervened. In form, he largely confined himself to the question of compensation, but the question of morality which he raised with such force carried his reasoning much further. The Chancellor of the Exchequer wound up for the Government. The temperature rose during his speech, both by reason of the interruptions to which he was subjected, and of the fact that some of its contents were reminiscent of the no doubt happier Sir Stafford of the carefree days of pre-war Opposition. * * * * Wednesday was the third and final day. The debate opened with Sir Andrew Duncan, whose knowledge of the steel industry, from the employers' side at least, is unequalled by any other Member. The final battle before the division, in a packed House, was between Mr. Eden and Mr. Herbert Morrison. The Bill duly obtained its second reading—against the highest Opposition vote so far registered in this Parliament—and so started on its journey to
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