30 JUNE 1950, Page 7

A SPECTATOR'S NOTEBOOK

THE Prime Minister was less than fair when in the Schuman debate on Tuesday he said, regarding the Labour Party's European Unity document " It raised a storm, especially with the people who had. not read it ; they got excerpts." Of course many newspaper-readers only got excerpts. The document was too long to print in full, even if it was worth printing in full. But it seems at least possible that a great many people read it before the Prime Minister himself did. In the debate in question he said, " Of course I have read it." No one could doubt that he had read it by that time. The question was whether he read it before publication. The answer may quite possibly be yes ; but the answer has not yet been given.