INVITATION TO PEKING

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29101, 13 January 1960, Page 4

INVITATION TO PEKING

Montgomery “Not Representative"

IN Z Press Association—Copynghl, LONDON, January 11. The "Guardian,” commenting today on Field-Marshal Lord Montgomery’s forthcoming visit to Peking, said his hosts would do well to remember that he was "not exactly a representative figure." The newspaper, which described the field-marshal as "Britain’s perpetual bombshell,” said: "One minute he is appearing on television in the United States, informing the Americans that Western leadership has now passed to Britain. . . . “The next minute he is back from South Africa, telling us all that Dr. Verwoerd is a sadly misjudged man. “These adventures in peripatetic indiscretion should not blind us to Viscount Montgomery’s great qualities.” the newspaper added. “Anything he says on military policy should be heard with respect, and even on other matters he often has something challenging to say. “But at the same time, his foreign hosts would do well to remember that he is not exactly a representative figure. "There is a good chance that when he arrives in Peking next spring, he will be received as an authentic spokesman tor the English ‘ruling circles.’ “If Lord Montgomery were Russian or Chinese he would be either important—or discreetly silenced. It will be hard for them to understand that here it is possible for him to be neither,” the "Guardian” said.