28 JULY 1950, Page 5

peaking last week-end about the need for extra expenditure on

ence, Mr. Strachey said : " It is perfectly possible that the burden uld be spread justly among all classes, and that the well-to-do their full proportion and share." Irresponsibility and a certain k of candour have long seemed to me the distinctive charac- 'sties of this successful politician, and both are well exemplified this sentence. Of the two failings I much prefer the former. is an irresponsible thing in these days to whip up class-feeling starting a campaign to soak ,the mythical rich ; but to do so is, ppose, only in accordance with the extremer tenets of the politi- doctrine to which Mr. Strachey currently adheres. But I find it easy to stomach the lack of candour which marks the suggestive baseless innuendoes implicit in the sentence I have quoted. hink that perhaps the best word to describe Mr. Strachey's hnique as a politician is louche.