SUBSIDING WAVES

Evening Post, Volume CXXV, Issue 71, 25 March 1938, Page 17

SUBSIDING WAVES

POLITICS AT HOME

PRIME MINISTER SUPPORTED

,CHANCE TO SUCCEED

(From "The Post's" Representative.)

LONDON, March 5.

The reverberations of the Chamber-! lam-Eden split have rumbled round the English electorates for nearly a fortlight. Instead of increasing in volume . they have gradually declined. AH talk of an immediate election on the issue has long since died. At Whitehall Mr. Neville Chamberlain, in the family tradition, has dominated liis colleagues, for Mr. Eden there is universal and widespread respect. He*has begun a tradition all his own. The Opposition are disappointed. The answer .to their rallying call to oust the Prime-.Minister was not received from the country districts. In London their protest meetings in Trafalgar Square and Hyde Park received the usual police protection and limited notice in the Press. Not until the result of the Rome talks are seen will < another opportunity be presented to - Taise again the cry for an election, and then there is a possibility that in the ; event of success, it may be the .Government itself that will decide upon going to the country. •' , The attitude of the provinces to the policy of the Prime Minister and the I resignation of Mr. Eden is interesting. ''fin the early hours of the crisis opponents' of ■ the Prime Minister who hoped for an election were also look- ■ ing forward to a profound reaction in '■(.he country similar to that which resulted in Sir Samuel Hoare leaving the Foreign Office. This time, however, the country reacted in a different way. A different mood was abroad. CHANGED OUTLOOK. At the time'wheri. the facts of the Hoare-Laval plans became known the .Peace Ballot was still fresh, in everybody's"mind. Thousands had signed it, and the League of Nations was then a reality rather than a shadow; as a result there was intense indignation, and Sir Samuel was forced to resign. The atmosphere at the time of Mr. Eden's resignation was different. "People in the country districts who had signed "the Peace Ballot were now disappointed, disillusioned. Furthermore, in the week following Mr. Eden's,action there grew a steady body of opinion supporting the Prime Minister. In effect its attitude was to 'say, "If Mr. Chamberlain <Sm come to agreement with Mussolini and Hitler and cut aoross.^the present impasse, which'is Jeading nowhere, he should be allowecLan opportunity of doing so." 'This; in addition to the belief that the ■!Prime. -Minister was attempting a some'}vhat .bold and courageous task, stayed provincial action. -; Party interests were also not overlooked. It'is. one thing to demand the (resignation of a Minister; it is another thing to rail for an 'election because ' one Minister disagrees with a Cabinet •which can be, relied upon to represent the' majority,^6f opinion of the party ."in power. Conservative malcontents realised quite well that in supporting any cry for an election they would be playing 'into the hands of the Opposition, Which, .■until Mr. Eden's resignation, had -"shown no excessive 'admiration of his •iftJflMittes? In*a<fdition, the~?only,<«ilter.fjiatjve.'"to the National ' Government -'■was, a Socialist Government and it is ,'no exaggeration to say that among a -, large proportion of the people the word still inspires vague visions rof a large man with a bomb and a "beard. s , " ' ' , ' ' CHAMBERLAIN'S OPPORTUNITY. , Again, ,Mr: Eden and' Lord Crani'Tiourne, when they spoke to their con- - stituents .explaining their action, gave 1 no encouragement for the support of "the Opposition. They asked, rather, ~that the incident should be regarded *%& closed. Thus it came 'about that Mr. 'Chamberlain's policy is being given its' ' !cha'nce. But the reverberations are still continuing, and a failure, or a breakdown in .the'efforts of the Prime. , Minister to achieve his purpose, cannot I 2-i>ut be regarded by the National Gov- ' erhment as extremely grave. On-the o(her;han4. their success will; in!'addition to'being a great personal success for Mr. Chamberlain, form an t excellent rod with which to beat the ' Opposition. Thus a feeling has arisen that a General Election in the autumn is' not without its possibilities. By October the present Parliament will have run for three years of its possible life of five, and Mr. Chamberlain ■ may accept the advice of his electoral experts to "cash in" in his success. A Parliament seldom lasts for more than four years. / There is another section of opinion which says that the Premier would not be 'content with an Anglo-Italian success alone. He would then attempt a similar settlement with Germany..That might or might not be possible within the present year. But if a double triumph came his way the Government would not -only go to the country at once, but Mr-.-Chamberlain might himself retire from politics, having achieved an ambition of a four-Power Pact in Europe and become the greatest peacemaker of his time. By that time he would be 70, and well content to hand over to a younger man.