From the Horse's Mouth SIR ANTHONY EDEN'S return and the

message with which he marked it should put a halt to ill-informed and often ill-natured rumours that he was about to resign because of ill health. .

--Sunday Times, December 30.

BY all accounts—and those who have been inside the Cabinet room recently are the best witnesses--the Prime Minister is now completely fit again after the Christmas holiday.

—'A Student of Politics' in the Sunday Times, January 6.

• S •

I HAVE news today that will bring a gasp from every Tory in Britain. Mr. Harold Macmillan is planning to retire from the Commons. . . .

I report that Mr. Macmillan means exactly what he says. He intends to go.

The reason?

Not because of any personal clashes with his colleagues.

Not because of any disagreement on policy.

But he is 63 in February, three years older than Sir Anthony Eden, nine years older than Mr. Butler.

And suddenly, with absolute clarity, he sees that the nation's highest office is for ever beyond his grasp.

How sad a moment for a politician who has come so far.

The moment when he realises that he is finally out of the race.

—`Crossbenchere in the Sunday Express, Decem- ber 2, 1956.

MACM11.1.AN kept the Tory conscience in the years the locusts ate; and he has never entirely lost his vocation . . those who keep the Tory conscience are respected by their colleagues and praised by future generations; but they never lead the Tory Pary.

—New Statesman. November 5.1955.

•

IT seems certain that Mr. R. A. Butler will be the new Prime Minister. —Daily Herald. January 10. Ilatram's new Prime Minister is likely to be Mr.

It A. Butler —Daily Moil, January 10.

IT looks like Butler. ---New Chronicle. January 10.

THE betting favours Mr. Butler.

—Daily Express, January 10.