15 FEBRUARY 1935, Page 6

If the Prime Minister should decide to give way to

Mr. Baldwin—of which, it may be said, there is no visible sign—all Ministers would surrender their portfolios, and a general reconstruction of the Cabinet would be not merely possible, but inevitable. There is a sort of assumption that Sir John Simon would become Lord Chancellor (Lord Sankey retiring) and either Lord Halifax or Mr. MacDonald himself take the Foreign Office, with Mr. Eden, it may be hoped, still co-operating as effectively - as he does today. But that theory postulates motion in two very static bodies, the Prime Minister and Sir John Simon, both of whom show every sign of finding life agree- able where they are. Then, of course, there are the dis- turbing potentialities of Mr. Lloyd George. Half the Cabinet is murmuring " Welcome " and the other half -" Avaunt." The argument likely to prevail is that he will be less dangerous inside—and when it comes to stating his terms L. G. should be really happy.