On Friday, February 12th, in the House of Commons, Mr.
Clayton's Bill to release members from the obligation to seek re-election when they accept office was given .a second reading by 143 votes to 74. It will be remembered that the Bill which Mr. Bonar Law introduced in 1919 would have released them from the obligation to seek re-election only for nine months after a General Election.
As the debate showed there is something cogent to be said .
for the Bill and something cogent against it. When the obligation was imposed in the reign of Queen Anne, there was a contest for power between Crown and Parliament but that contest is obviously as dead as Queen Anne herself. And the obligation is in many ways an incon- venience. It causes a Prime Minister to choose new colleagues with his ;eye on their majorities rather than on their merits. Again, a new Minister ought to get to work at once in his office and not be compelled to waste time on an electoral campaign. * * *
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