Ministers replying for the Government at the end of debates
are falling into the bad habit of reading prepared speeches and ignoring questions that have been put to them, or arguments to which at least courtesy demands some sort of reply. Mr. Oliver Stanley, in the Unemployment debate last week, was a bad offender, and Mr. Morrison on Tuesday was little better. Not only the Opposition parties feel themselves hardly treated ; Mr. Amery's speech on Tuesday, which held the House from start to finish, raised vital issues which one would have thought the Government spokesman would have dealt with, if only in reply to an ex- Cabinet Minister. Government supporters were obviously anxious for Mr. Morrison to show his mettle. The belief that he is a future Prime Minister dies hard. His per- formance on Tuesday must have disillusioned his best friends.
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