The wide gulf in outlook between the Government and Oppositions
was vividly illustrated in the debate on Wed- nesday on the Government's attitude to the report of the Royal Commission on the Trade and Manufacture of Armaments. The Labour and Liberal Parties treated the question as one of first-class importance, while the supporters of the Government were frankly bored at what they regarded as so much waste of time on a purely academic issue. The debate was opened by Mr. Noel Baker in a speech that indicated that he will be one day a very considerable Par- liamentary figure when he has overcome the agony of nervousness from which he clearly suffers. He had an admirable seconder in Mr. Kingsley Griffith, who, in addition to being able to deliver effectively the purple passage, is developing a very pretty sense of Parliamentary wit. These were two speeches that required a first-class debater .to answer them, and it was lucky for the Govern- ment that it was Sir Thomas Inskip who was in charge of the reply. He took an hour to give it, but when he had finished there was little doubt that, whatever the ultimate merits of the case, the Government had enjoyed the best of the argument.
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