28 DECEMBER 1956, Page 6

MANY NEWSPAPERS ARE busy nominating their men, women, babies, dogs

and sportsmen of the year; I would hesitate to add to their number.were it not for their strange neglect of the figure who is certainly the politician of the year—if I may call him such; the Speaker of the House of Commons. A Speaker's task is thankless at the best of times, plagued as he is by lobbY lawyers, full of peevish parliamentary precedents; and in the • last three months it must have been extremely difficult for hirn, with real rage bubbling on both sides. But he has had the presence, the voice, and above all the good humour to main' min control. I cannot truthfully say that many parliamentary occasions recently have been memorable; but I shall not easilY forget his handling of them.