News of the Week
IF the world needed proof of the unity of the people -L of this country in face of the financial crisis it has got it in sufficiently dramatic form in the spectacle of the leader of a party of 13 holding the chief office in the Government by universal consent, with the leader of a party of 470 as his lieutenant. " This is no party victory," Mr. Baldwin hastened to insist on Wednesday night, and he could have made no more wise or reassuring declaration. But no one can contend it is no party defeat. North, south, east and west, in the industrial cities as much as in the agricultural counties, Labour candidates, the intellectuals equally with the trade unionists, have been swept away by the deluge. The defeat lends itself to no analysis. The verdict of the electorate has been comprehensive and undiscriminating. As for the Communists and Sir Oswald Mosley's always fantastic New Party, their achievements have provided the one element of mirth in a rather grim struggle. Willingly or not, they have made some contribution to the relief of the financial stringency by forfeiting between them some £6,000 of deposits. It has been a little cynically observed that anyone could beat a Labour candidate this time, even a Liberal, and the Liberals of various shades in the new Parliament do in fact number 70, against Labour's 51. A new chapter of British Parliamentary history opens on Tuesday.
