The choice of Dr. Burgin to open the discussion on
Tuesday was not altogether a happy one. Usually a convincing debater, he overdid the heroics on this occasion. His reference to Czechoslovakia as a State that was inevitably breaking up by reason of internal causes was widely resented. After he sat down it quickly became apparent that the volume of Conservative discontent was greater than anyone had supposed. It was, of course, expected that Mr. Amery would express his misgivings and that Lord Cranbome would be courteously scathing. But nobody had anticipated that Sir Sidney Herbert would break his trappist vows by delivering the most vigorous onslaught of the day. The rumour had been going round that Ministers were contemplating a coupon election and that all those who failed to " vote straight " in the division would be blacklisted. Sir Sidney dealt with this suggestion, and with the Government's shortcomings in the matter of anti-aircraft guns, in the manner of a rowing coach addressing from the towpath a singularly unsatisfactory crew. The balance was to some extent redressed by Mr. Maxton, who was utterly opposed to the prospect of fighting German working men, and who gave one of the most powerful displays of his oratorical gifts that the House has heard for years.
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