A SPECTATOR'S NOTEBOOK
y F there has been any enthusiasm about the batch of Ministerial I changes it has failed to manifest itself in my vicinity. The institu- tion of a Defence Ministry is no doubt a sound move, and of the possible incumbents of the new office Mr. Alexander is no doubt as good a choice as was open to the Prime Minister. Mr. Bellenger's promotion to the Secretaryship of State for War was frankly sur- prising, though he may still demonstrate that the surprise was mis- placed; he will be well supported by youthful ability in the persons of Lord Pakenham and Major Freeman. The Foreign Office loses Mr. Noel-Baker, who knew far more than anyone else on the Front Bench about international organisations, and gains Major Christopher Mayhew, who has everything to learn but possesses considerable capacity for learning it. Of Mr. Noel-Baker as Secretary of State for Air it can be said at least that the Department gains an active head ihstead of a nominal one, for Lord Stansgate has been detached for other duties so long that he hardly functioned at all. In one respect, moreover, the new Minister's international experience may have its value, for this country is required under the United Nations Charter to have an air force contingent always immediately available for combined international enforcement action. If, moreover, the Prime Minister still has the same ideas about the creation of an Inter- national Police as he had when he wrote his book, The Labour Party in Perspective, nine years ago, an internationally-minded Air Minister may have some scope. Meanwhile, civil aviation gets a jolt in the substitution of Lord Nathan and Mr. Lindgren for Lord Winster and Mr. Ivor Thomas. It may be a salutary jolt—or it may not.
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