We do not doubt that the Marconi scandal also played
a very large part at Altrincham. Though cynical politicians in London on both sides may profess to think that the " Marconi business is overdone," we are convinced that it has made a deep and most painful impression in the country. It was not for nothing that the announcement of the Altrincham figures on the Manchester Stock Exchange was greeted with cries of " Marconi " What the ordinary Englishman especially detests is cant and hypocrisy in public men, and the country, even though it may be indulgent to certain aspects of the business, has with an unerring instinct fastened on this side of it. " They were doing just the thing which only a dozen years ago they denounced as utterly unbecoming in Ministers. It's a bit too thick, and besides, they tried to keep it dark as long as they could." Whether that is a fair or adequate comment we shall not discuss now—our readers know our opinion—but without question it is most damaging.
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