THE WEEK IN PARLIAMENT
BY NEW MEMBER.
CAPTAIN WEDGWOOD BENN has been the parlia. mentary hero of the week. His opposition to the Safeguarding Resolutions was conducted with a sustainee vigour and skill which astonished even his most ardenl admirers. Captain Benn enjoys the almost unique distinction of being an entirely genuine Radical. He dislikes Toryism and Socialism and Mr. Lloyd George about equally. Anything in the nature of an import duty induces in him a wrath that approaches the sublime. He lashes himself into a white-heat of passion over a pair of nail-scissors or gloves—to hinder the import of these things is the foulest sacrilege. I am informed that he sat in the House for seventeen consecutive hours in two days, and can well believe it, for whenever I went into the chamber he was there, usually on his feet, an alert and fascinating little figure, enquiring, challenging, mock- ing, denouncing, and raising points of order. Captain Benn is fighting—and will probably fight to the end—a lone hand. As a parliamentarian he goes straight into the front rank, and he has borne the main burden of opposition practically single-handed throughout the session. But he is out of sympathy with most brands of modern political thought, and although he is immensely popular in all parts of the House, by reason of his charm and a sense of humour which will out, even at moments of the tensest crisis, he has no political friends in the generally accepted sense of the term.
In the lengthy and wearisome safeguarding debates he received some assistance from Mr. Runciman Wand Mr. A. V. Alexander, who.took himself rather too seriously, And he was also assisted by the inadequacy of the Government representatives. Sir. Philip Cunliffe-Lister and Sir Burton Chadwick are a distressing combination in debate, and their efforts caused considerable dismay amongst the Unionist rank and file. It was something of a relief to learn that the resolution on packing paper bad been postponed, for I don't think we could have borne another one just then. The exclusion of the Press on Wednesday, December 2nd, due to. the blunderings. of Mr. Neil Maclean, annoyed many members of the Labour Party, who quickly realized that the Government had scored a good point against them by letting the motion go through.
The debate on the Irish Treaty was uneventful. There were a few growls from Sir John Marriott and Colonel Gretton, and an excellent speech from Mr. Churchill, who is in very good form these days. Government stock stands higher than ever, and even the Press attacks are visibly weakening. This is no mean feat after ten months of fierce political strife. - But a record which includes Locarno, the Irish Treaty, the Pensions Act, the Rating Act, and the successful avoidance of industrial strife, is too good for the critics. It all goes to prove that, given a good case, the platform is still capable of beating the Press.
The divisions in the Labour Party have been exagge- rated. The quarrel is, after all, merely about methods of conducting opposition. And in justification of the rebels, it must be admitted that the Party has hitherto been extraordinarily bad at it. There is no question ..of dis- placing Mr. MacDonald. He has not the knack— possessed to a supreme degree by Lord Oxford—of ingratiating himself with his supporters, but he remains the only possible leader.
The Liberals remain in a sorry plight. But I hear that at their last meeting there was a distinct movement towards Mr. Lloyd George. Poor Captain Benn I
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