The Week in Parliament
J'HE debate on the vote of censure last week practically brought the session to a close. A few days of cleaning up remained, and members found themselves free to go home on Wednesday. During the last few weeks the House of Lords has surpassed itself, not only getting through a great volume of work, but staging debate after debate filled with the most excellent matter. In this respect it has compared very favourably with the House of Commons, where the speaking has been rather bad, and very thin, with the exception of the censure debate. A word must be said about certain aspects of this debate. At the outset Mr. Ramsay MacDonald induced an atmosphere of farce. His heart was clearly never in the business. But he laid himself open to scathing repartee time after time, and paused for so long between sentences that the Tories who are not very quick in the uptake, but have a strongly- developed sense of humour, never failed to score. Upon each occasion the Leader of the Opposition laughed at himself, whilst his back-benchers scowled dismally at the roof. It must have been a little disheartening to hear one's chief discoursing about will-of-the-wisps " bursting out " over " marshy ground " (the Tories thought this must go on in the Sahar. ' The Chancellor of the Exchequer," rashly declared Mr. MacDonald, " is going to bump the box with both hands to-night as usual." " Who's bumping the box now ? " came the crushing retort ten minutes later, wrecking a rather good peroration.
The Prime Minister is an extraordinary and surprising man. We were prepared for a sombre and depressed review of the past, or for an earnest appeal for the future. What we got was an intimate and penetrating analysis of the psychology of Mr. Cook and those who think with him. Not only did he go to the root of the whole matter by talking on this theme, but he revealed once more a side of his character which the House has never properly understood, but in which it has always been intensely interested.
Mr. Lloyd George, not knowing where he stood, but in fact between the devil of support for the Government and the deep sea of nationalization, in which Messrs. Trevelyan Thomson and Percy Harris are so unaccount- ably reluctant to swim, delivered a short and bad speech, failed to hold the House, and subsequently left it in disgust. He would further his own cause at the present time by remaining silent, and a month at Valescure is more likely to raise his waning prestige than anything else. Captain T. J. O'Connor deserves the highest praise for a debating speech which was admirable alike in form and substance. Sir Alfred Mond was interesting about industrial organi- zation, while Mr. Walsh "quoted some wage figures with effect, and a packed house assembled at 10.15 to hear Mr. Churchill wind up the debate.
All the old skill was there—the vigorous punches interspersed with deft and laughter-provoking cuts. Mr. Churchill hits harder—far harder—than any other Minister, but the Labour Party will take more from him than from anyone else, for they succumb as quickly as the rest of us to the artistry which is at his command. He began to speak of class-warfare, Russia, and Mr. Cook—three red rags to a bull as far as the Labour back- benchers are concerned. A murmur of disapproval was deftly transformed into a volley of laughter and applause by the observation that the miners' secretary had pre- sumably gone to Moscow to " report progress and ask leave to sit again."
Another classic debating speech was added to Hansard, another appeal made for " that higher compre- hension of the common interest which we all have in the vital industries of the country, without which in this island we shall not succeed for any lengthy period of time to nourish our teeming millions," the Government got a majority of over 200, and members trooped off to bed pondering over these and other things.
Thus ends a fateful session, in the course of which we have witnessed industrial strife and misery on an un- precedented scale, and, despite all, the passage of much useful legislation, the benefits of which, will yet be felt.
WATCHMAN.
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