A SPECTATOR'S NOTEBOOK
1 T is remarkable how closely politics and piety can sometimes be associated. Never, I imagine, in this Parliament has the attendance at prayers in the House of Commons been anything comparable to what it was on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week. No Budget day produced anything of the kind—for the reason that the Budget is preceded by an hour of questions, which gives Members ample time to take their seats. This week there were no questions, and it was wise to make certain by being in at prayers. There can be no question that on the first two days the Opposition were far ahead in pure debating-points, though Mr. Bevan and the Prime Minister may have done something to redress the balance before these words are read. Sir Stafford Cripps on Tuesday stuck closely to his manuscript and, well as he read it, clearly tired the House before he sat down after eighty minutes. Mr. Oliver Stanley, who occupied the next fifty-seven, was punch and sparkle throughout, his best casual thrust being at the expense of Mr. R. H. S. Crossman, who, in an article in a Sunday paper on the very day devaluation was announced, had ex- plained conclusively why it could never happen. " The hon. gentle- man," said Mr. Stanley, " is very unfortunate. Here was one of the rare occasions when he was toeing the party line, and then he found the line had changed."
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