POLITICAL CHANGES IN ENGLAND

Evening Star, Issue 17154, 22 September 1919, Page 8

POLITICAL CHANGES IN ENGLAND

WHO WILL BE NEXT PRIME MINISTER?

It is generally recognised (writes tho Loudon correspondent of tho ‘ Ago ’) that a return to party politics on the old lines is inevitable, and that this will involve the dissolution of tho Coalition Government. Mr Lloyd George will not be sorry to cud Liie coalition, provided the end is dedayed until he has prepared for it. He wants to go to the country with a good election m- ; but, on the other hand, the Tories, win, are in a majority in the House, of Commons, do not want another General Election. Their reluctance to face the country is increased by the overwhelming defeat* of Tory Coalition candidates at recent by-elections, where Coalition candidates had been overwhelmingly victorious at the General Election in December last. Air Lloyd George, who brought about a breach in tho Liberal party at the December General Election, wants to heal that breach before another election is held ; but he doesn't want to heal it until Mr Asquith is got out of the way, as otherwise Mr Asquith would probably bo selected as the Leader of the reunited Liberal party. If only Mr Asquith had accepted tho offer of the post of British Ambassador at ■Washington, Air Lloyd George’s political plans would be free from immediate anxiety.

It is not so long ago that the North* clilfc newspapers warm'd .Mr Lloyd George that if ho took Z\li- Winston Churchill into his Ministry ho would seal the doom ol his (loverinnent, as the country would not tolerate .Mr Churchill in any Government after his record of grievous blunders as First Lord of the Admiralty in the early stages of the war. When this warning was publicly delivered. Lord Northcliffe and Mr Llnyd George were bosom friends (having scarcely ceased to congratulate one another on the success of their long intrigue to bring down tho Asquith Government. of which Mr Lloyd George was a member), and the warning was interpreted l>v those with some knowledge, of what takes place behind the political scenes as having been instigated by Mr Lloyd George as a. public explanation to his qld colleague. Mr Winston Churchill, why ho was not asked to join the new Government. Subsequently Mr Winston Churchill succeeded in making himself a menace to the Government by his speeches in the House of Commons, and when tho Government were reconstructed a place was found for him. Now that Lord NorlhclitTe is trving to drag down Mr Lloyd George, the Northclifte newspapers have begun to nraise .Mr Winston Churchill, and to indicate that he is destined to be Mr Llovl npnrceV sncce?--or as Prime Min-i-ici. It is publicly h’fded .that Mr Winston Chm-Chill Is “ cps.s-'Csfied ” With Mr Td-ivd George. and with his work nt the Pc Cbnfsreucp. Hut Mr ClvrchiM’s dify-idfv is to get the roimtrr to share his “ dte-'ntL faction.” ard to transfer its confidence t,(, him. That llv:< W.rthoßffo'n-wv:;-popers are taking b-’ck (he nasty tilings i,h-.-y vijd about Mr Winston Churchill lost vo-vr. nod that Mr Chirr hill is contr'buting to t v e Nor-thcHffe Fund-iv pacer o scries cl' articles setting forth a far-reaching f-7?-3 : gn and dPtne-dic rnSiey to l ' Gre°t Britain, is merely Indicat'Vo of tho fact that Lord Northcliffo .and Mr Winston Clmrcliill want to each other for personal ends. The fact that. Lord Northrjiffe is willing to hack Mr /Vhwton Chri-cbill for the Prime Ministership rlr’ws that there is m> one «i the political horizon who has anv chance of success against Mr L’ovd Geo’ge, Mr I/lovd George, watching tho efforts of his old f-i-nd and ’Ministerial roily ac»c Mr Win "ton Churchill, to sunplaot him. may sav, as Clvrles fl- d : d when warned by h: s lire tiler James of plots against his life: “ They will never kill me. James, t ■ mWo you King." The bulk of the Tory parly would lie glad to depose .Mr Bcnar Law as Leader, lint, they cannot find a successor. Tho Charge against Mr Bonar Law is that he has none of the qualities nf leadrship except that of tenacity in hanging on to the po-ition. The absence of the other qualities was not a vital hardship in those days when his party was in opposition, beca-neo it was in a minor’tv ; but now that it is in a, majority in the I fen sc nf Commons he allows himself to las eclipsed by Mr Llovd George. Ho has fallen under tho domination of Mr Lloyd George’s pominlality, just as lie srrcimrhod to the more delicate charm of Mr Asquith, when ho served under the Liberal Leader in tho first Coalition Government formed during tho war. Pot a politician Ml - Bonar Law is conspicuously honest, and straightforward J hut there qualities hamper rather than help a, leader. The strength of his hold on his position is due to the fact that there is no one among the Unionist party to challenge his leadership. Eight year’s ago he succeeded to the leadership as the result of an agitation to get rid of Mr Balfour. He was chosen as a compromise by two sections of the party, one of which wanted Mr Austen Chamberlain «s loader, whereas the other section wanted Mr Walter Long To-day his only rivals for the leadership aw the Ban# pair; but circumstances have changed to tho extent that no section of tho party wants cither of them.