Conservatives and Mr. Baldwin The .Baldwin-must-go crusade ebbs and flows
as ninny like crusades have before it. The ineptitude of the handling of the Coal Mines Bill on Monday has been laid partly to his charge, and one or two of his statements in the course of the debate seem to have been based on imperfect information. His speech to the Women Conservatives at the Albert Hall last week was not impressive, for though there is something to be said for thinking aloud on the League of Nations, the process is better fitted to a committee-room than to the platform at a mass meeting expecting a pronouncement on policy. In another column our Parliamentary Correspondent puts the ease for Mr. Baldwin as he personally sees it. and the greater part of his argument will find ready endorsement. The Prime Minister has always preferred to drive his team with an easy rein, but there is every ground for believing that when he chooses to assert him- self he can still do it.effectiveiy. The danger is that he may not do it often enough. He has a formidable assailant (on occasion) in Mr. Churchill and a formidable critic (on occasion) in Sir Austen Chamberlain, but his leadership is not seriously challenged, and it is hard to think of any change that would not be fir the worse. For only the Prime Minister can keep the left Wing of the Conservative Party dominant in the House and the country.
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