On the service estimates only half a dozen of the
Labour rank and file went into the lobby with the I.L.P. The rest of the official Opposition sat glumly on their benches. It is difficult to see what they expect to gain from this policy of non-intervention. The odium which they have incurred by refusing to support any measure of rearmament will still cling to them ; they will be exposed to ridicule on the part of their political opponents for their apparent failure to make up their minds ; and the growing discontent of their own left wing will be intensified. They would have done better to have copied the tactics of the Liberal Opposition who, while declining to commit themselves to any five-year plan for rearmament and continuing to emphasise their dislike of the Government's foreign policy, have voted consistently for provision for the fighting forces. Even Labour leaders are now driven to admit that they themselves would rearm if they were in power. The average voter does not under- stand politicians who decline to support a measure which they themselves believe to be necessary. It may well be that the difference between the two Oppositions is the reason why the Liberals have done rather better than the Socialists in recent by-elections.
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