A Spectator's Notebook
Whatever you may think of John Stonehouse, and it's probably not much, he has brightened a gloomy winter. The case he has made against a Select Committee to consider his dismissal, suggesting that it would amount to a Star Chamber, is formidable. Edward Short and Bob Mellish, who are worried about the difficulties of enacting controversial finance Bills with their precarious majority, pretend to be morally incensed and to be standing on matters of high Principle — though Short, who has similarly suffered, should concede that Stonehouse has Made a striking argument in saying that a member should not be expelled from the House on the basis of unsubstantiated press allegations. Surely, without criminal charges, an apparently sick man might be left alone. The situation will resolve itself just as soon as the Prime Minister cares to call a general election.
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