A SPECTATOR'S NOTEBOOK
LORD LOTHIAN has been mentioned in most informal discussions on the impending vacancy at the Washing- ton Embassy, but dismissed on the assumption that in such a position a bachelor is at a disadvantage. Too much stress can be laid on that—and the Ambassador-designate still has time, if he should acquire the inclination, to remedy the deficiency. Married or single, Lord Lothian, who though holder of a title going back to 1591, is completely democratic and eminently approachable, can be counted on to develop bene- cially in many directions the numerous contacts he has estab- lished in a period of thirty years in the United States. In politics I should describe him as a Lothian Liberal—a position which provides comfortable scope for manoeuvre— and as such he will make a much stronger appeal to Ameri- cans generally than a true-blue Conservative. He has the advantage, particularly valuable in an Ambassador at Wash- ington, of being an admirable speaker, his appointment has been warmly welcomed in the American Press, and there is every reason to believe that he will prove a popular and suc- cessful Ambassador of a type Washington has not known for several decades—though his strong convictions will certainly not accord always with instructions from home
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