5 JUNE 1947, Page 5

It should not entirely escape notice that Mr. Emanuel Shinwell

is now chairman of the Labour Party. I doubt whether all members of the party itself feel enthusiastic about the fact, but it will not *Hutchinson. 12s. 6d. necessarily add considerable weight to his utterances, whether secular or Biblical. Mr. Laski, not being in a position to make Parliamentary pronouncements, worked his chairmanship of the party to the utmost in many counties and in many lands. His successor, Mr. Noel-Baker, on the other hand, took a tranquil view of his responsibilities. Mr. Shmwell may not feel it necessary to exert much effort to project himself further into the public gaze, but his presidential -address to the party should be a deliverance of some interest. By a perhaps wise provision of the Labour Party, its chair- man, within a week of saying his historic say, reverts to the position of an ordinary member of the executive—if even that.