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Lord Halifax's speech and Budget prospects obviously influenced the debate on Monday and Tuesday on the Defence Loan. Attendance was astonishingly poor on Monday, and the debate was desultory throughout. On Tuesday, when defence was the primary topic, it came to life. But the fact that there was no opposition in principle to the Government's proposals robbed the discussion of reality. Mr. Maxton alone objected to the borrowing provisions, which were the most popular part of Sir John Simon's opening speech. Mr. Dalton was handicapped by a bad cold, but Mr. Pethick-Lawrence made as good a contribution from an Opposition Front Bench as one could want. Mr. Boothby appeared to be in his element ; he sees materialising at last the expansionist policy he has pleaded for so consistently ; but the House never quite knows what to make of him. A passionate plea for sanity in a disordered world, and one more attempt to ward off destruction, came from Mr. Maclaren, the Member for Burslem. The House was hushed until Mr. Austin Hopkinson awoke it with a gratuitously offensive start. Colonel Nathan's complaint, at a quarter past eight, that no one was on the Treasury Bench but a Whip and a Junior Minister was justified ; but as Captain Wallace, who wound up, made no attempt to answer any of the debate it really would have made no difference.
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