Spectator's Notebook
It's good, too, to see Mr Quintin Hogg, a humane man, as Shadow Home Secretary: a thoroughly worthy opponent for Mr Roy Jen- kins. With the loss of so much of the old guard (and I'm particularly sorry to see that Marples Has Gone), Quintin Hogg and Sir Alec Douglas-Home provide a ballast of experience the Opposition can ill afford to neglect. At the other end of the scale, among the newcomers, Mr Peter Walker has already proved he has considerable political skills: he now has the opportunity to show that he has political judg- ment, too.
The first real test of the new front bench will, of course, be the budget debate, when the burden will fall on the (in this field) untried team of Mr lain Macleod and Mrs Margaret Thatcher. I must confess that I have always felt that Iain Macleod would make a better Foreign Secre- tary than Chancellor of the Exchequer. It will be interesting to see how his duel with the con- scientious, if uninspired, Mr Callaghan works out.
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