A SPECTATOR'S NOTEBOOK I N the criticisms which have once again
been directed —on Monday, in the Lords—against the appoint- ment of a Minister for League of Nations Affairs, it is not Mr. Eden personally who has been attacked, but his office. ' Lord Rennell feared duality of influences in foreign policy ; Lord Newton disliked peripatetic diplomacy. So far as the latter is concerned, it is no new thing. It was constantly practised under the Lloyd George regime after the War, and it has gone on ever since ; and it is at least arguable that much has been gained by personal intercourse between ministers respon- sible for foreign affairs in different countries. As to the division of the work of foreign affairs between two Cabinet Ministers, there are reasons which make it not only desirable but absolutely necessary. The work of the Foreign Office was hard enough in the days of Lord Salisbury and Sir Edward Grey. Today it has become so huge a part of the whole activity of Government that no one man can keep effective personal control over the whole field. Division of labour had become essential.
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