A SPECTATOR'S NOTEBOOK
CROSS BENCHER, the political columnist of the Sunday Express who is often thought—wrongly, I hope—to reflect the ideas of Lord Beaverbrook, is worried about the use of Dorneywood, the late Lord Courtauld-Thompson's gift to the Nation. He does not, of course, grudge Sir Anthony Eden his good fortune in being able to live at Dorneywood. But he is concerned lest this provision of country houses for politicians should become a habit. He thinks that 'the perquisites of public office in this country are lavish' and that the gift of houses will make politi- cians even less ready to resign their offices than they are at present. These fears seem to me unfounded. However ready or reluctant Anthony Eden was to resign from the Chamberlain Government in 1938 1 do not think his decision would have been in any way affected by the possession or otherwise of Dorneywood or a similar country house. As First Lord of the Admiralty Sir Duff Cooper had the use of a splendid yacht and I am certain that a shore establishment in the country of the utmost magnificence would not have kept him in the Government after Munich. After his Budget leakage Mr. Dalton would surely not have been deterred from the path of duty even if as Chancellor he had had the use of a house in the Peak District with endless opportunities for jolly rambles and boisterous bonhomie, while no amount of publicly pro- vided fleshpots would have stopped Mr. Lyttelton, now Lord
Previous page
