The Opposition Leader The re-election of Major Attlee as leader
of the Socialist party in the House of Commons by no fewer than 88 votes to 48 is more significant, than .most Socialists Would care to admit. Though it might be argued that it is merely the confirmation of the appointment made in the' last Parliament, in spite of Major Attlee's short leadership having been at best undistinguished,• the ulterior reason's are too patent for the argument to carry weight. Mr. Clynes presumably had a prior right, in view of his seniority as a Front Bench leader, but he declined the responsibility from the outset. The claims of Mr. ArthUr Greenwood were not so good : he has been, in the last four years, a somewhat' uncertain and not very edifying master of bitter invective—sometimes brilliant, often merely cheap. The real choice, therefore, lay between Major Attlee and Mr. Herbert Morrison. And Mr. Morrison was not acceptable to the majority. The cleavage in the Party between the moderates and the extremists was therefore accentuated, since Mr. Morrison is considered a moderate and the present leader has expressed himself on the subjeet of Policy in tern-is by no means moderate.
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