A SPECTATOR 'S NOTEBOOK T HE Lord Baldwin affair is singularly
unfortunate, largely through Lord Baldwin's own fault. When the Colonial Secretary said in the House of Commons that the Governor of the Leeward Islands had been invited to come home for consultation (a perfectly normal procedure) he was stating the plain, unvarnished truth. There were all sorts of important administrative questions which could not be dealt with satisfactorily by despatches or cables, and personal con- versations were obvious common sense. But Lord Baldwin, in various indiscreet statements to reporters, created the idea that he was a victim of official criticism on account of his Socialist and egalitarian policy, and in particular for championing the black popu- lation against the small white elite. There appears to be little ground for this, but the result of it all is that if Lord Baldwin does go back to his post he will be hailed as victor over a reactionary Whitehall, and if he does not he will be drenched with sympathy as a martyr to official obscurantism.
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