7 JUNE 1935, Page 6

A SPECTATOR'S NOTEBOOK

THE list of Mr. Baldwin's Cabinet may contain sur. prises, but it seems unlikely. Leakages are inevitable, for no prospective Prime Minister can frame his administration without conversations and discussions, and by early this week the prophets had reached substan- tial agreement. Lord Hailsham, Sir Samuel Hoare and Sir John Simon are accorded definite niches, but I have not heard much about one of the ablest of the younger men in the Cabinet, Mr. Ormsby-Gore. If he is not offered the Colonial Office a manifest opportunity will have been missed. I hope the rumour of Lord Eustace Perey's return to oflice is true, as I think it is. The Young Con- servatives of whom he is the leader have done as useful constructive thinking and discussion as any group in Parliament—probably more—and the inclusion of Lord Eustace in the Cabinet would both make a link with an alert body of private members and bring into counsel an experienced and singularly well-stocked mind. It is an open secret that Lord Eustace was the author of the striking introduction on "The Principles of a Constitu- tional Settlement," to the report of the Joint Select Com- mittee on India. As I suggested last week, the difficulty about putting Mr. Eden into his present chief's shoes has been sufficient to keep him out of them. But his elevation to Cabinet rank is counted on, as a first instalment of recognition. Mr. Baldwin's highest wisdom would be to construct his Cabinet as far as possible of men of his own temper. He is quite strong enough to disregard his right- wing die-bards.