12 APRIL 1935, Page 6

A SPECTATOR'S NOTEBOOK

IT is a serious matter that both Mr. Baldwin and Mr. Eden should have • been absent from the prolonged and all-important Cabinet meeting on Monday. In the case of Mr. Eden there was, of course, no help for it (1 am afraid he is more seriously overstrained than the papers have indicated), and it may well be argued that by -the speech he delivered that evening to the Free Church Council Mr. Baldwin was doing even better service than he could in discussion with his Cabinet colleagues—who presumably are quite familiar with his views. Possibly. It all depends on what the Cabinet decided, which has not been disclosed as I write. But there are notoriously two parties in the Cabinet—as there well may be one favouring a larger acceptance of responsibility by this country than the other. Mr. Eden, especially after his eastern journey, may be assumed to be of the progressive section, and it is therefore particularly unfortunate that he was not in the Cabinet room to state his case. He was in fact more needed there than at Stresa..