A SPECTATOR'S NOTEBOOK
THE appointment of Lord Alexander as Minister of Defence seems likely to cause some party controversy, in spite of the obvious qualifications of the late Governor-General of Canada for the post, and the fact that the appointment has for some time been expected. Theoretically there are well-understood objections to so large a number of peers—seven out of seventeen—in the Cabinet, and at ordinary times this might be good ground for criticism. But these are far from being ordinary times, and the Ministry of Defence is far from being an ordinary post. Moreover the Prime Minister has so fully acquainted himself with the work of that Ministry, and can be relied on to keep in such close touch with it, that he will be able to answer for it in the Common's with all the knowledge, and more than all the authority, of the Minister himself. As to the appoint- ment of a professional soldier to such a post there might be some objection to that too in ordinary times. But Lord Alexander has shown throughout his career—above all during the six years in which he has been Governor-General of Canada —how much more than a mere professional soldier he is. In the light of all the facts and circumstances the arguments for the appointment, in my view, heavily outweigh the arguments against.
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