At a meeting of the Conservative and Unionist Party at
the Hotel Cecil on Monday, Mr. Stanley Baldwin was -unanimously -elected leader. Sir Robert Home and .Sir Laming Worthington-Evans were both present, but Mr. Austen Chamberlain was absent. Lord Curion, with -perhaps a-sly ironic touch, pointed out that Mr. Baldwin -possessed " the supreme and indispensable qualification of not being a peer." Mr. -Baldwin was clearly not in -much need. of the exhortations he-received to ,work for .unity. He is aiming_ at a unity and concentration of .Coiistitutional forces far beyond the conception of most .of :those who have been conventionally talking about the reunion of Unionists. Mr. Baldwin in accepting the leadership said that he would act on the three canons of Disraeli : the. maintenance of the Constitution, the welfare of the people, and the development and unifica- tion of the: Empire. - Europe, moreover, must be saved ; its disintegration would mean a repetition of the appalling _trade conditions of the past two years and a consequent reaction among the British people that might pass . beyond the control of all statesmanship.
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