:NEWS OF THE WEEK
THE Liberal Party has been thrown into intense agitation and the rest of the country into intense curiosity by a correspondence between Lord Oxford and Mr. Lloyd George. We cannot recall any such " telling off " by a party leader of his principal colleague as is contained in Lord Oxford's letter. Lord Oxford has always been so reticent and so magnanimous even when he had very, good cause to be offended, that we may be sure there is more behind his letter than any personal wish to denounce Mr. Lloyd George. Probably the sending of the letter was felt by other members of the Liberal " Shadow " Cabinet to be a necessary act of policy. If that be so it means that they no longer desire Mr. Lloyd. George's collaboration or his leadership in the House of Commons. The correspondence certainly makes future co-operation almost impossible. It is suggested that Mr. Lloyd George has in mind for himself the leader- ship of a Labour group of the Right. But in that case what would Labour say ? Labour is not likely to forget that Mr. Lloyd George sucked the life out of the Liberal Party. and the toalition in turn.
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