THE WEEK IN PARLIAMENT
By NEW MEMBER.
THE House adjourned on Friday, December 19th, until February 10th, the debate on the Address having been concluded on the Wednesday with a " fortissimo " speech by Mr. Churchill in reply to the Liberal amendment. The whole Protection issue was adroitly raised by the Liberals, who, it must be admitted, made the most of their opportunities. At one moment—after a really effective attacking speech by Mr. Lloyd George the atmosphere was much too " electric " for the taste of some Unionist members. The reply by the President of the Board of Trade did not improve matters. Mr. Lloyd George fastened on to the Prime Minister's statement that any protection given under the new Safeguarding of Industries Bill would apply to, a1L foreign. countries, and not merely to the one from which unfair competition was proved to be coming. By sticking to this theme—a good one he achieved better results than Mr. Snowden, whose acid. and .somewhat .rambling comments were too full of detailed statistics to create a general effect in the House. Mr. Runciman . wound up for the Liberal Party, and it was a packed and somewhat anxious house which awaited the reply of the Chancellor of the Exchequer.
The , necessary vagueness of the Prime Minister's announcement put Mr. Churchill at a disadvantage. Strictly speaking, the. facts were not on his side. There can..be no . facts until the Government scheme is fully evolved. It was -not open to the Chancellor, in view of his record,. to _adopt a Protectionist point of view in face of .the general Free Trade attack. It will thus be seen that Mr. Churchill was in a position of peculiar difficulty, and .the drama of the situation was intensified by his appearance and .attitude during Mr. Runciman's speech when he appeared to be extremely. .nervous and agitated. But the brilliant debating: speech which followed was rapturously- received by -a vastly relieved Government majority, who felt that at last the tables had been turned.
And, indeed, both sections of the Opposition were not unappreciative of what was.. admittedly_ .a superb, Parliamentary effort. Mr. Churchill is a great artist, expressing himself through the medium of politics: The Prime Minister, watching this particular -performance, can have had no reason to regret his choice. A remarkable feature of the ensuing division was the abstention of the Clyde members, duo partly to a sneaking affection for Protection, but more to dislike of the Liberals.
If the first three weeks of the new Parliament can be made to prove anything, it is that the standard of front- bench debating capacity is probably higher than it has been since the War. Whether this means that the output of legislation of real value will be greatly increased remains to be seen.
Ilouse of Commons, December 19th.
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