AT WESTMINSTER
THE House of Commons was turned into a firing range on Monday and Tuesday. The Opposition practised with the new British .280 rifle, and the Government com- peted with the Belgian FN .300 which has been adopted for the British army to suit the convenience of NATO. Nobody quite knows which side got the higher score. Sir Winston Churchill was interrupted eighteen times during his speech on Monday, but he offended the gallant Colonel Wigg by supposing that the Colonel had not carried a rifle very far. " I have carried a rifle further and longer than the whole of the Government benches," retorted the old soldier. Some members seemed to be a little nervous at the firing point: Mr, Wyatt spoiled his effect by rudeness; Mr. Head fumbled at one point on Monday and had to shoot again on Tuesday. Perhaps- the calmest shot was Mr. Jack Jones, the Labour member for Rotherham, who said of the Belgian rifle: "It is an extremely good rifle and an extremely accurate one . . . but as an instrument of death and destruction of the common enemy, this rifle is inferior to the .280." A compromise has been reached by this Government and would, so Ministers assert, have had to be made by any other Government. Mr. Jones did a service to the army by speaking of the ' ceremonial potential ' of a rifle. What a superb parade-ground phrase that is. * * *
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