24 JULY 1936, Page 3

Mr. Churchill delivered one of his oblique attacks on the

Government which fell very flat. There is no doubt that he is very genuinely alarmed at the condition of our defences, that he has a wealth of expert knowledge at his disposal and that he is concentrating the whole resources of his brilliant mind upon the problem. But he spoils much of the effect of his constructive criticism by his attempt, at the same time, personally to disparage the heads of the Government. He can never resist the temptation to raise a laugh at the expense of Mr. Baldwin or Mr. Ramsay MacDonald. In consequence there is a disposition to regard, quite wrongly, his efforts to stimulate the Government to further action as being part of the old game to discredit the National Government and encompass its destruction.