A SPECTATOR'S NOTEBOOK
VERY few people, I think, believe a European War is near. Many believe it can be permanently averted. But, as Monday's debate on the defence programme brought home to everyone, we have to base the whole of our national planning on the assumption of the possibility of war. That being so, and while we are debating our strength measured in terms of air-power, sea-power, economic resources and the rest, it is not amiss to consider how we stand in Minister- power, by comparison, say, with March, 1914. Here are two lists of principal Ministers : 1914. 1938.
Prime Minister .. Mr. Asquith Mr. Chamberlain Chancellor of Exchequer Mr. Lloyd George Sir John Simon Foreign Secretary .. Sir Edward Grey Lord Halifax War Office .. Col. Seely Mr. Hore-Belisha Admiralty .. Mr. Churchill Mr. Duff Cooper There was, of course, no Minister for Air in 1914. Taken as a whole, there is not much in it between the two. What there is tips the balance -in favour of 1914. And in one or two individual cases the 1938 scale is driven sky-high. • * * *
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