On Tuesday in the Commons the Government's majority fell to
23 in a division of the first importance. There is no explanation of this fact that will hold water except that there were genuine abstentions by disaffected Liberals. Mr. Asquith proposed a resolution for applying the Closure to the Finance Bill—a thing hitherto unknown in the history of Parliament. He said that his proposal was abso- lutely necessary, and that Mr. Bonar Law, when he came into office, would be only too glad of the precedent. Mr. Bonar Law said the Government were simply trying to shield themselves from a discussion of the muddle into which the national finances had been brought. Mr. Lloyd George argued that it was impossible to repeat the nerve-racking sittings of 1909. The health of Members had suffered. As a matter of fact, the records of the Budgets of Peel and Gladstone showed that there was much more time given now to the finance debates than formerly. Deliberate obstruction was the sole trouble.
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