7 AUGUST 1936, Page 3

It was a pity that apart from Lord Cranborne and

the faithful Mr. Ernest Brown no Minister thought it worth his while to delay his holidays in order to stay and listen to them. For much sound sense was talked, and it would have been a grand opportunity for Cabinet Ministers to find what was really in the minds of their supporters. It was clear at the end of the debate that the gulf that separates the parties on foreign policy is narrowing, and that though on the great occasions the Labour leaders feel compelled to whip up a certain party feeling it is not reflected among the more thoughtful rank and file of the party. The admirable speech of Mr. Noel Baker, who opened the debate, might have been delivered by Mr. Harold Nicolson, and young Mr. Arthur Henderson's mild criticism would have been echoed by any keen League man in the Conservative Foreign Affairs Committee.