The Week in Parliament
ALL is not quiet on the Conservative front bench. ,Having decided, for reasons known only to them- selves, publicly to expose and to argue the one funda- mental point of disagreement that exists between them, the leaders of the Unionist Party tabled an amendment to the Address upon the issue of safeguarding. A full- dress debate on Protection ensued, at the outset of which Mr. Amery, in a speech of remarkable power and even brilliance, denounced Liberalism and all its works, coquetted with Socialism, characterized his colleague, the ex-Chancellor of the Exchequer, as "mid-Victorian," and practically committed himself to an import duty on wheat and meat. After this the Free-Traders had the best of it, both Mr. Snowden and Mr. Runciman being at the top of their form on a favourite topic. It all ended in a sub- stantial victory for the Government, supported by the Liberals. Mr. Churchill disappeared during the debate, and there were some Unionist abstentions from the division, so that the whole performance can hardly be described as a tactical triumph on the part of the official Opposition. Indeed, it has become abundantly clear that this Protection business will again require very careful. handling by Mr. Baldwin if a most dangerous situation is not to develop in his party. The Conservative candi- date at Twickenham, unsupported by a substantial section of Conservative Members of Parliament, appears to have raised the question in its most provocative form, and to have made it the main issue of the by-election. And most of the Protectionist hounds, stimulated by the impish activities of Lord Beaverbrook, are once more in full cry.
But if the troubles of the Conservatives are considerable, the anxieties and sorrows of the Government arc no less. Every Minister must be praying for the recess, for they have had a " sticky " time tiuring the past week. Over unemployment insurance, over Colonial develop- ment, over housing, and alsove all over the notorious " deVelOpment lon," the Government has been subjected to forMidable criticism from the Opposition benches, to the accompaniment of a perpetual " obbligato " of machine-gun fire from their own back-benches.
Miss Lawrence managed to dodge the well-directed bullets of Mr. Wheatley, and successfully to wriggle through the meshes of the various nets prepared for her by Mr. Chamberlain and Mr. E. D. Simon. But even she, with all her knowledge and debating skill, was not too happy. Miss Bondfield frankly succumbed to the Clyde attack, and to the maiden speeches of various aggrieved and indignant Socialists. She has promised to do better next time and continues to exist, more or less, on sufferance. The brunt of the assault has, how- ever, been borne by Mr. J. H. Thomas, who is not taking the strain any too well. He was definitely worsted in a fierce clash with Mr. W. J. Brown, one of the ablest of the new Labour back-benchers. And a climax was reached last Tuesday, when a searching cross-examination by Mr. Lloyd George compelled every Minister on the Treasury bench to leave the chamber simultaneously in order to discover whether their proposals were as inade7 quate as they at first appeared to be, or whether they were; in fact, asking thejlouse for a blank cheque in order to. subsidize private enterprise. Mr. Churchill moved to report progress in order to secure the attendance of the Financial Secretary to the Treasury. This was achieved, but neither he nor Sir Oswald Mosley did much to clarify a situation which remains amusing but obscure. Debate has been maintained at a high level. The speeches of Mr. McKinlay (Socialist) and Major Nathan (Liberal) were quite exceptionally good. WATCHMAN.
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