The Duke of Portland sent a very timely letter to
the Primrose League Conference at Nottingham, on Thursday, denouncing the newspaper persecution of Mr. Baldwin. He said :— " Ministers should receive the loyal and united support of the Conservative Party, and should not be the victims of bitter strictures made by a certain group of newspapers which are controlled by two members of the Upper House, whose names are well known, and whose supposed reasons for their vendetta are matters of common notoriety. These newspapers never miss an opportunity, indeed they create opportunities, of making unjustifiable attacks upon the Prime Minister and the Chancellor of the Exchequer ; but, Sir, would it not be more dignified and patriotic if the controllers of those newspapers subordinated their personal feelings to the interests of the country, for if they succeed in their tactics, and bring about the downfall of Mr. Baldwin and Mr. Churchill, will they not at the same time bring about the downfall of the Conservative Admin- istration, and so help to make possible the formation of a Socialist Government, which all true Conservatives would deplore ? I do not think that members of the Conservative Party in general have any sympathy at all with this disloyal vendetta. We beliove in the spirit of fair play, we believe in the spirit of loyalty to our leaders, and we absolutely deprecate the undermining of their authority and influence by the distortion and perversion of facts. I hope that at representative meetings of members of the Party resolutions will be passed strongly reprobating the recent unfair attacks upon the Prime Minister and the Chancellor of the Exchequer."
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