30 AUGUST 1940, Page 3

The ‘Veek in Parliament

Our Parliamentary Correspondent writes : Almost unnoticed a score of new members have appeared to replace the lost, the retired and the ennobled. We shall hear no more in the Commons beloved George Lansbury, Simon's lucid advocacy, sweet reason from Terence O'Connor or enlightened common sense from Kingsley Griffith. Some have returned to the scene of earlier labours, like Sir Frederick Sykes, Sir Cuthbert Headlam, Harcourt Johnstone and Dr. Morgan: newcomers have slipped in like Mr. Key from Poplar, another Maclay from Scotland and Sir Malcolm Robertson. The Government now includes over a hundred members and two Chief Whips ; another hundred are serving the forces in various capacities ; there is no official Opposition, and yet Parliament has more than justified itself in these last three months. Should it have adjourned for a fortnight? Mr. Maxton summed up the answer in his own way: " There was one day last week when there was more rude temper about this House than there should be, just because we are tired of looking at each other. I do not know how the hon. gentleman sitting opposite to me feels, but if it is the same as I feel sitting opposite to him—"