25 JUNE 1921, Page 3

Lord Salisbury in a letter to the. Press on Monday

pointed the-moral of the East Hertfordshire election and earlier contests of a similar character. Sir Hildred Carlile was beaten because he supported the Coalition, which no longer possessed the full confi- dence of the Unionist Party. Lord. Salisbury declared that the Unionist Party must recover its freedom of action, for the country was evidently bent on electing members to oppose the Coalition. He said that every Unionist association should ask its member or candidate to consider himself free from any binding obligation to support the Coalition. Unionist members might still vote with the Government where they were agreed.