LIBERAL LEADERSHIP

Evening Post, Volume CXIII, Issue 31, 7 February 1927, Page 9

LIBERAL LEADERSHIP

SIR HERBERT SAMUEL?

ELECTING A CHIEF WHIP

Sir Herbert Samuel lias informed his friends in the Liberal Party that he intends to take an active part in politics again early in the new year, said the London correspondent of the ''Manchester Guardian" towards the end of December. Ho will be a great acquisition to the strength of the parly, for, of course, he is a man of eminent ability, and, moreover, of conspicuous moderation and fairness, and his great administrative experience, both in office and in Palestine, will be of the utmost value in the counsels of tho party. It is rumoured that ho may' consent to be chairman of the Libernl Party Organisation if and when Mr. Vivian Phillipps resigns, but friends of Sir Herbert say that until tho unhappy party differences arc definitely icsolved lie is unlikely to take up liis interrupted career as a Liberal leader.

Sit Herbert Samuel, or! course, would bo welcomed buck to the counsels of

the Liberal Party. His name has been mentioned as the possible impartial chairman of the reorganised Organisation Committee of the Liberal Party. So also have the names of Lord Reading, Sir Charles Hobhouse, and Lord Beauchamp. _ .The fact is that the stipulation of an impartial chairman belongs to an earlier stage of the negotiations. It has completely dropped out of the later recommendations. I doubt if any oi these names would appeal particularly to any section. . Thero would always be a difficulty about electing what is called an impartial chairman, and it would be renewed at every le-olec-tion. '

_ I think the solution is much more likely to be found -in a reversion to what we used to consider the bad old way. In those days the Liberal Chief "Whip was ex officio the chairman of the Liberal Central Association and the leader of the party the controller of the party fund. Things have changed in more ways than one. The Chief "Whip is now elected by the, Parliamentary Party. Yet he is acknowledged by all sections aS Chief "Whip and therefore ex offieio chairman of the Liberal Central Association, which was and in some measure still is Abingdon street. It may be a revolutionary suggestion, but in view of recent democratic changes would it be bad policy to go back to the old practice ? To go back to the old practice would mean simply that the Chief Whip of the day would be ex-officio chairman of the Administrative Committee. In the old days the Chief Whip was appointed by the leader of the party. This session (and I "think the practice will hold for future sessions) the Chief Whip has been elected by the Parliamentary party of the House of Commons. There is no longer the same objection to the Chief Whip's being exoffieio chairman of the Organisation Committee and therefore chief influence in the disposal of the Liberal funds from whatever source they may come. At the present moment it would mean that Sir Robert Hutchison would bo chairman of the Organisation Committee. He has been regarded in the past as a Lloyd George man, but he is very independent. He is completely devoted to the unity of the party, and, as I have already said, he is persona grata with all sections. It would perhaps be an advantage if the Chief Whip of the day, so long as the Chief Whip is democratically elected by the party in the House of Commons, were the chairman of the Committee which in practice would dispose of whatever Liberal funds thero might be. It would save the difficulty of an ad hoc election, which might this time or some other time cause trouble in the party. It would be very difficult for any section to resent the succession of a Chief Whip freely elected by the Parliamentary party, and at the present moment the selection would probably be a generally saisfaetory one.