1 NOVEMBER 1935, Page 3

Looking back on this Parliament with its 460 Conser- vatives,

the extent to which Mr. Baldwin has exercised over them a real personal ascendancy is very remarkable. Time and again it has looked as if the Diehards might turn into a formidable force, but alWayS Mr. Baldwin haS prevented them from' rocking 'the boat. • Even in the critical divisions on the India Bill they never really menaced the Government's• position, and at the end' of the Parliament they were weaker than they had been at any time during its long life. Mr. Amery in his spirited anti-League speech last week scarcely aroused -a flicker of antagonism against the Government. Indeed, no coalition in history has succeeded in maintaining greater appearance of real unity than this National Government in the Parliament that is now dissolved. Compare its fortunes with those 'of the 1918 coalition.

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