The Week in Parliament Our Parliamentary Correspondent writes : The
great capitulation is almost universally welcome. Mr. Gallacher, it is true, complains that the Prime Minister has thrown him over and Mr. Wedgwood, who is never so happy as when he is in a minority of one, supported N.D.C. on the grounds that it was analogous to the taxation of land values. But everyone else is pleased. The Opposition parties naturally rejoice over a Ministerial retreat. Conservatives are relieved from the dilemma of having either to accept a proposal they loathe or jeopardise the existence of the Government. The House as a whole feels that it has acted with more than usual effectiveness as the vehicle of public opinion and compelled the executive to bow to its will. Mr. Churchill, in an up- roarious speech which no one who heard it is ever likely to forget, made the way easy for the withdrawal and placed the Cabinet enormously in his debt. Finally, Mr. Chamberlain extricated himself from an impossible situation with a deftness which surprised even his warmest admirers. He was very far from imitating the familiar "peccavi " tactics of his predecessor. What at first looked like a retreat became an outflanking movement. The climax of his speech was his adoption of Mr. Dalton's suggested alternative, namely, a simpler tax with a larger yield. * * * *
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