The grand mistake of the Government's scheme for a general
reform of the Lords was that it went much farther than the mere fiat of a Cabinet Committee justi- fied. There was blundering which it is not pleasant to contemplate. At first the remarkable coincidence between Lord FitzAlan's suggestions and the scheme which the Lord Chancellor instantly produced suggested collabora- tion ; yet collaboration was disavowed by the Govern- ment, and of course everyone accepts the disavowal. It remains reasonable to suppose that there was a good deal of hurrying and pressing by those members of the Cabinet who were most anxious to have a complete scheme of House of Lords reform launched as soon as possible. Certainly the Unionist Party as a whole was never consulted. Mr. Baldwin was away at the critical moment. If, however, he had " designed or calculated " (as the Government would say) the management of the whole affair to put a spoke in the wheel of the diehards, he could not have done better. The revolt is a revolt of moderates, and Mr. Baldwin, by happy accident, once again has an opportunity to possess his soul. He is relieved of the pressure which his right wing has been steadily applying to him for months.
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