A SPECTATOR'S NOTEBOOK
THE return of Sir Stafford Cripps to this country after a world-tour in which he has visited among other countries, Russia, China, India, Japan and the United States, is an event of some interest, particularly since he has definitely abandoned the law for politics, and still more particularly if rumour is right in crediting him with authorship of the letter in Monday's Daily Mail which has started a furore of amateur Cabinet- making. The position of the three leading Labour lawyers is singular. Sir Stafford himself was expelled from the Labour Party at the beginning of last year for his "Popular Front" activities. Mr. D. N. Pritt was expelled from it six weeks ago (subject to appeal to the Party conference next week) on account of his views on Russia. Sir William Jowitt (who has just been opposed to Mr. Pritt in the Daily Worker libel case), after being elected to the House of Commons as a Liberal in 1922, sat as a Labour Member from 1929 to 1931, then joined the National Labour Party, but was not long ago received back into the orthodox fold and is nominated as Attorney-General in Sir Stafford Cripps'—if it is Sir Stafford's—ideal Government. Politically Sir Stafford has the greatest possibilities of the three, and it will be singularly interesting to observe how far his attitude has been affected by a world-tour in which he has stayed with two or three British Ambassadors, and discussed the Indian situation with the Viceroy as well as with the Nationalist leaders.
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