The Week in Parliament Our Parliamentary Correspondent writes: The new
Minis- terial appointments can hardly be said to have been received at Westminster with acclamation. Indeed, the announce- ment that Mr. Burgin was to be made Minister of Supply was made in an uncomfortable silence. Opinion over the week-end, however, no doubt influenced by some of the Sunday Press, changed, on the ground that for a Ministry so limited in scope Mr. Burgin will adequately fill the bill. The other appointments, though on personal grounds some of them were welcomed, are criticised in that they show that there is no intention of broadening the basis of the Govern- ment. Of some significance has been the almost open hos- tility displayed at Question Time recently by all sections of the House to Mr. Hore-Belisha ; while Sir Reginald Dorman- Smith came in for a heavy drubbing on Monday. The cir- cumstances of his appointment make it essential that he should produce an agricultural policy soon, and Conserva- tive back-benchers, in particular, grow increasingly restless at the repetition, in answer to questions, of promises to con- sider and reviews to be made. The Secretary of State for War appears to have laid up much trouble for himself by his performance at a meeting of the Conservative Army Committee. Rumour is very strong that there will soon be a change at the War Office.
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