It is evident that the effect of the Bermondsey election
upon the fate of the Budget must be very great. In spite of our detestation of the Budget, we have, as a matter of tactics argued against its rejection by the Lords, believing that its acceptance would be more certain to secure what we desire above all things in the political world,—the expulsion from power of such politicians as Mr. Lloyd George and Mr. Winston Churchill, the men who now control the Liberal Party. It must be confessed, however, that in view of the Bermondsey election it is difficult to recommend such a course. No doubt it may be said that one must not argue from premisses so narrow as those of the Bermondsey figures. At the same time, the Lords would hardly be human if they were lot moved by what happened on Thursday, for if the figures in this election show nothing else, they at any rate show that there is no great wave of popular feeling for the Budget to which the House of Lords ought to bow. Taking all circum- stances into consideration, we can hardly doubt that- the return of Mr. Dumphreys has sealed the fate of the Finance Bill.
