5 JANUARY 1924, Page 10

Why Great Britain should have sacrificed her local interests, and—fax

more important—her bargaining power, to France by supporting her against Spain and Italy it is impossible to guess. If we are to play the old diplomacy game, let us at any rate play it for our- selves and not to please France. Do we really wish to support France, with her network of alliances and sub- sidies across Central Europe, against the beginnings of the new Latin bloc of Spain and Italy ? Surely every single British interest, including that of a general European settlement, demands that we should do exactly the reverse.

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