M. Herriot's Problems
But M. Herriot, of course, is not Prime MinistCr yet and his prospect of becoming that will depend on the Qutcome of some rather delicate negotiations with the Socialists. That the two parties will support one another's candidates, and withdraw in one another's favour, on the second ballot is certain enough, but the relation of the two groups in the Chamber is quite another matter. The Socialists have always declared themselves ready to form a government, but not to take part in a bourgeois coalition, while M. lierriot refuses to repeat the experi- ment of 1924 and rest on the votes of a Socialist party which, by declining office but making itself indispensable to those who hold it, finds itself endowed with power without responsibility. But such professions and protes- tations often go pretty quickly by the board when Cabinet- making is in progress, and there is little doubt that if
M. Herriot is charged with forming a government he will decline all co-operation with M. Tardieu and look for his support to the Left Centre and Left. But it must always be remembered that similar as the attitude of Radical- Socialists and Socialists is on foreign policy, the two parties differ considerably on domestic questions, par- ticularly where the rights of property are concerned.
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