The Week in Parliament Our Parliamentary Correspondent writes : "
Whenever by an unfortunate concurrence of circumstances an Opposi- tion is compelled to support the Government," said Lord Randolph Churchill, " the support should be given with a kick and not with a caress, and should be withdrawn on the first available moment." In recent debates the Labour front bench has been placed in this unhappy situation and with the best will in the world has been finding the kicks singularly difficult to administer. There has been a dearth of controversial issues, so that even such stalwarts as Mr. Morgan Jones and Mr. Shinwell have been hard put to it to discover matter for complaint. On Monday the Minister of Education outlined his plans for physical recreation and training in such a manner as to disarm criticism in advance. Mr. Lees Smith indeed declared that until the problem of nutrition was solved proposals for mere physical training would be " built upon a foundation of feebleness, anaemia and debility." But even he made no attack upon the scheme itself and commented favourably upon the absence of any vestige of compulsion.
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