One's own impression, gained from Mr. Churchill's manner and treatment
of the matter, was that he was very skilfully avoiding saying anything that could be construed as even an approach to a positive proposal. He had captured the close attention of the House, though once he blew a mine of wrath on the Labour benches when he spoke of " the great disasters that have come upon Britain and her standing among the nations " since 1945. How much Mr. Churchill regrets that the war-time coalition broke up is common knowledge, and now he seemed to imply that the present stalemate would have been almost providential had it occurred in 1945, since it would have guaranteed the continuance of the coali- tion. His picture of what may happen to us if the stalemate continues could hardly have been painted in darker colours, and yet he would have nothing to do with a coalition formed as a result of party bargaining. Only a " blinding emergency," ho believes, can produce a coalition now ; and that was where he left the subject, having tossed a nice topic into the lobbies for the speculative ingenuity of Members to exercise itself upon.
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