A SPECTATOR'S NOTEBOOK
THERE is no very convincing way of gauging the opinion of the country as a whole on the Chamberlain-Eden question, but all the signs are that the Prime Minister's position has been little shaken. The test is, not the vociferousness of the Government's regular opponents, but the tendency of its regular supporters to back Mr. Eden against his former colleagues. And of that I (who happen to think Mr. Eden was right) see little sign. No Conservative paper of any consequence, except the Yorkshire Post, has, so far as I know, come down on the late Foreign Secretary's side, and admirable as the Yorkshire Post is in its vigour and independence, it is owned by Mrs. Eden's family and would find it a little difficult to take the field against Mrs. Eden's husband. On the other hand cinema audiences, I am told, suggest quite another conclusion. When in the news-pictures Mr. Eden appears on the screen there is a tempest of applause, while the Prime Minister is greeted with silence or hostile noises. This may not be a universal experience, but it has certainly been common in the past ten days, and though cinema-goers may not be profound politicians, they are most of them, after all, voters, and as such the politicians' masters.
* * * *
Previous page
