The presence in the House of Commons of Sir William
Beveridge, whose adoption and return for Berwick-on-Tweed seems assured, is likely to affect the relative weight (as distinct from numerical strength) of parties more than any other individual advent to St. Stephen's in recent years. For Sir William will make his appearance at the very moment when the questions in which he is recognised to be not merely a foremost, but the foremost, authority are to come under debate. He is a most competent controversialist and the Government spokesmen in coming debates on social security and unemployment will find a much tougher critic opposite them than they usually have to face. Sound Liberal though he declares him- self, I do not see Sir William worrying unduly about submission to party discipline. On his own particular subjects he may, indeed, tend to overweight his party ; but it is the prerogative of Liberals to be free-lances. Through all this the fact that Sir William is incidentally Head of a House at Oxford tends to be forgotten. That that position is not incompatible with membership of the House of Commons is shown by the fact that Mr. G. H. A. Wilson was both Master of Clare and Member for Cambridge University (not an exacting constituency) from 1929 to 1935.
* * * *
Previous page
