THE TEMPER OF BRITAIN
Sta,—If this war could be won by the Prime Minister's speeches in the Commons and elsewhere we should be getting on famously. Un- fortunately, it cannot. Rommel outweighs rhetoric. To speak last in a
debate, leaving critics no opportunity to ask further questions, may be admirable tactics, but I doubt if it satisfies the country. One wants
to know over what periods the 4,50o tanks went to ,Middle East and how many went to the 8th Army, and more vital, how many reached the 8th Army? Did the Navy, in addition to the Army, agree that Tobruk could be held? Who was the commander in Tobruk who surrendered? To evade points such as these is not to create public confidence, but th reverse. Mr. Churchill's services to the nation are supreme. He is almost the only member of his Government whose record in the years before 1939, so far as it relates to this present war, emerges with credi from an examination. His own behaviour after Dunkirk, and o the moment Russia joined us in the fight, and in enlisting America's aid is stamped with greatness. But he cannot do everythihg for ever. Nor can he escape responsibility for so much that should be better than is. His power is enormous; being so, it is difficult to see why mu that needs doing is not instantly done.
The Home Front cannot be divorced from the foreign fronts, yet 11 preserves an almost stony silence on what we hope to do with tit' Britain of ours after the war. The right speech by him (not by Mr Eden or Mr. Lyttelton) would have a profound effect in every work shop in the country. Moreover, he should not imagine that the Com mons vote of 475 to 25 can be rightly judged on its face value. B even if it could, these Commons are no trt.e mirror of Britain today They fall something short of the nation's stern temper, of its determina tion to win this war no matter what is thrown overboard in the proces Faithfulness to a political party, loyalty to a political colleague, these seen to be of small moment in this terrible drama. Among a host our people in the provinces (and not only there) Russia is the h Russia brought a greater conviction. They see her vaguely as t creator of something foreshadowing a new and different world. Doub less they idealise her somewhat. But there's no questioning that feeli that's almost in their bones. They believe she has achieved a too cent. war effort, and many feel frustrated that we have not achiev that. We shall not have it until every one of us sees that he has Divine (or other) right to be safer or more comfortable than a lad fighti and dying for us in his tank in Libya—and then acts accordingly.—Yo
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