M. Herriot and M. Laval The resignation of the Laval
Cabinet will, it appears, embarrass M. Herriot and the Radicals even more than M. Laval. M. Herriot's motives for resignation were clear ; he wished to dissociate himself from M. Laval well in advance of the coming elections. Why he did not resign before is equally clear ; he did not wish to precipitate a Cabinet crisis before the Budget was passed. Indeed, he would have liked his five colleagues to continue in the Cabinet, and M. Laval to remain in power until the elections. But, having caused the fall of the Cabinet, he will not form a Government himself. But neither, it seems, will M. Laval, who prefers to wait until the crisis is severe enough for him to come forward as the saviour of France ; he will certainly not, for the moment, relieve M. Herriot of his responsibility. Thus it appears that France will be without a Government at a moment when both domestic and international affairs conspicu- ously need firm handling. A dissolution is one possibility. Otherwise there appears to be only M. Daladier, now President of the Radical-Socialist Party, willing to take office. If lie does, it will be as leader of the Front Populaire, faced with the opposition of the Bank of France, and the prospect of a financial crisis and de- valuation. Electoral tactics and loyalty to the State go ill together,
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