The Week in Parliament Our Parliamentary Correspondent writes : Great
Parlia- mentary days are here again. For at least a year and a half there has been no real cleavage of opinion. Members have listened wearily to hundreds of unimpassioned speeches on essentially non-controversial subjects. When the House rose on Friday of last week it would have been true to say that the line of demarcation between parties was becoming more and more blurred. Now the whole scene is transformed. The drama of the week-end has given new and vigorous life to political controversy both inside and outside the walls of Parliament. For no one who listened to the speeches on Monday and Tuesday could believe that the divergences between the Prime Minister and Mr. Eden were merely as to time and method. It was abundantly clear that they held diametrically opposite views on the biggest issue in present- day politics, namely what the attitude of this country should be towards the totalitarian states. The conflict can be expressed in two phrases. Lord Cranborne, whose action in following his chief has won universal admiration, spoke of " surrender to blackmail." Mr. Chamberlain argued that " it is for a great country to do what a small or weak country cannot always afford to do—to show magnanimity, and whoever aspires to lead her must be ready to ignore abuse." * * * *
Previous page
