AT WESTMINSTER
UDGET DAY is in many respects unique in the Parliamentary
calendar. It is not only that there is a sense of expectation and excitement sharper than on normal occasions; not only that, it is one of the comparatively few days when a more spacious Chamber would be appropriate and convenient. It is also an excep- tion so the normal rule that debate, controversy or contention are the very stuff of Parliamentary interest. Budget Day is by contrast a one-man occasion, probably the only one of the year. The Chancellor opens his Budget at whatever length seems to him appropriate, in the secure knowledge that a protracted speech will not cost him his audience : the Leader of the Opposition replies in what is almost a token speech (on Tuesday it was in fact Mr. • Eden who did this in a graceful performance); and then, or very soon after, the debate is by custom adjourned—Members retire to assess the consequences of the Budget in solitary communion or family conclave—except for the Chancellor, who in modern times, as if to accentuate his special position on this one-man day, takes himself to the microphone.
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Mr. Dalton is not the man to let an occasion slip. He is a most able Parliamentary performer, who matches himself to the hour with rigorous confidence. He made a very long speech, too long by post-Gladstonian standards; and it is fair comment to suppose that, if he had had something more substantial and more pleasing to impart, he would have imparted it in fewer words. As it was, he made the best of what he had, the at any rate nominally balanced Budget and the small incentives by way of increases in earned income and children's allowances. In elaborating the case for a cheap money policy, in confronting the nation with the necessity for a heavy increase in tobacco duty, and not least in announcing the restoration of purchase tax on electrical gadgets—where a degree of embarrassment would certainly not have been unexpected and possibly not unsuitable—the Chancellor pursued bold, offensive tactics. This is not the place to discuss the economic merits of the Budget. As a speech it was robust and clear, though marred here and there by passages of a rather hollow jocularity. As a sustained exhibition of vitality it was a memorable achievement.
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Not the least amusing part of our Parliamentary exchanges are the spontaneous interjections. Sometimes, though audible on the floor of the House, they do not reach the ears of the official reporters. On Tuesday there were several cases of this. The Chancellor's tribute to " that paragon of good citizenship, the married man with five children," was accorded a warm and obviously heartfelt " hear- hear " from Lord Hinchingbrooke, who had just joined this select and praiseworthy company with the arrival of a new daughter. A little later on, the Chancellor, in defending his increased Profits Tax, said in solemn tones: "Generally speaking, we are entitled to think twice, in our present situation, before paying people more money even for the same work." Promptly, Sir William Darling, for once apparently inaudible in the Gallery, crowned the remark: "Except, of courser in the case of Members of Parliament." Finally, Sir Waldron Smithers added to the Chancellor's list of electric gadgets, which he had been pressed to exempt from purchase tax, the item "electric chairs." This happy thought has found its way into Hansard, but cloaked in an unbecoming anonymity.
* * * * Sir John Anderson delivered a weighty indictment of the Budget on Wednesday with clear and deliberate eloquence, reinforced by great authority. There were useful contributions, too, from Mr. Benson, Sir Stanley Holmes and other Members. But to some extent, from a Parliamentary, though perhaps scarcely from a national point of view, Mr. Hogg had already stolen the scene with his speech on privilege. The House is becoming accustomed to this procedure; but on this occasion the Motion was moved by a Private Member instead of by the Leader of the House, which put Mr. Churchill into a state of unaccustomed confusion. The Committee of Privileges
are certainly having a busy Session. D. C. W.-S.
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