A Labour Victory
Mr. Arthur Greenwood, having converted a Conservative majority of 4,107 at Wakefield into a Laboni majority of 344, has declared his belief that the result will prove to be the beginning of the end of the National Government, a judgement which says a good deal for Mr. Greenwood's credulity. The swing of something over 2,000 votes can most naturally be explained by the decision of a good many Liberals, who found it impossible to support a Labour candidate in the crisis of last October, to vote to-day for the strengthening of the Opposition in the House of Commons and against a supporter of a Protectionist policy of which they disapprove. For the same reasons the Government will no doubt lose other by-elections where there is a straight fight with Labour, but with three candidates in the field the situation will be very different. The loss of Wakefield in itself will do the Government no harm, and the strengthening of the Front Opposition Bench will do Parliathent some good. But to talk of the beginning of the end of the National Government- is nonsense: Its friends have no more ground for 'fearing that than its enemies have for hoping it.
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