Nelson Evening Mail MONDAY, OCTOBER 5, 1931 HOW THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT FELL

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXVI, 5 October 1931, Page 4

Nelson Evening Mail MONDAY, OCTOBER 5, 1931 HOW THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT FELL

LONDON journals, recently to hand, throw light on the dramatic disruption of tho Labour Government. When, on 31st July, the British Parliament adjourned till 20th October, the political horizon, though not absolutely clear, was not such as to cause anxiety. On lltli August, however, Mr MacDonald, who was spending his summer holiday at bis native place, in Scotland, hurriedly returned to London to discuss the financial situation with Mr Snowden, Chancellor of the Exchequer, and next day tho Economy Committee of tho Cabinet held its first meeting. The problem was to decide upon the means which should be taken to make good the alarming deficit in the revenue, and maintain a balanced Budget, Exactly what conclusions were advocated has not transpired, but apparently Mr Snowden, with Mr MacDonald’s support, proposed to economise by reducing tho dole. On 21st August the General Council of the Trades Union Council passed a resolution condemning “the proposals of Cabinet for dealing with unemployment insurance and salaries of teachers and police.” At that point the trouble in the Cabinet seems to have begun, for that same day the Premier had a conference at Downing Street with leading Conservative and Liberal statesmen. Mr Baldwin returned hurriedly from France, where ho was spending his holiday. The King returned from Scotland to London, and lost no time in summoning the political leaders —Mr MacDonald, Mr Baldwin, and Sir Herbert Samuel—to Buckingham Palace, and discussing the situation with them. In the meantime a split had taken place in the Labour Cabinet, and tho rock on which it split was Mr Snowden’s proposal, supported by Mr MacDonald, to reduce the dole by ten per cent. Mr Thomas and a substantial portion of the Cabinet made out a strong case for raising the necessary revenue by means of a tariff on imports, but the Chancellor and the Premier were adamant. They pointed out that nothing less than a reduction of the dole would satisfy tho Liberals, on whose favour the Government depended for its existence, and that the Conservatives were of a like mind. However, when the Trades Union Council’s resolution against reduction of the dole reached Cabinet, the colleagues of tho Premier and tho Chancellor, with one or two exceptions, supported it. When the two loaders persisted in their view that the dolo must bo reduced, we read that: Hostility against the proposal then passed inio hostility towards Mr MacDonald and Mr Snowden personally. They were bluntly accused of wrecking the Socialist movement and the Socialist Party. Tho Prime Minister pleaded for unity, and the more calm and level-headed members of the Cabinet tried to pour oil on the troubled waters. Various suggestions were made with a view to obviating a direct attack on tho dole, and an appeal was actually mado to the Liberal and Conservative leaders to induce them to modify their attitude, but they replied that nothing but a ten per cent, cut in the dole would be adequate, and nothing else would be acceptable to them. At this juncture Mr Henderson, who was then and still is the controller of the Socialist Party, attacked tho Premier, and we read: The proceedings seem to have been bitter and quarrelsome from the beginning. Final appeals for unity were drowned in speeches of angrv hostility, and in the end eight Ministers announced definitely that they would not serve in a Ministry which intro-

duced any cut in the standard rates of unemployment pay. Then the Premier took away the breath of those present by announcing that, if the existence of a Socialist Government was thus made impossible, the duty liad been urged upon him of forming a new, National Government. The national emergency was great. The Labour Ministers had been quarrelling about a comparatively small matter. When through rancour and hot-headedness they had broken with their veteran leaders they were confronted with a development they had not contemplated, though they knew of the conferences of the leaders of the three parties. But ’some remained loyal to the Premier and the Chancellor, and are included in the National Ministry. Mr J. 11. Thomas is Secretary of the Dominions and Crown Colonies, and Lord Sankey is Lord Chancellor. Commenting on these events, the London “Times” said: It is an interesting, dramatic, and logical fact that the Labour Governhent has fallen in what has always been foreseen to be the acid test of democracy—namely, the capacity of its leaders to tell the people the truth and not to regulate their policy by the votes that it would bring. That is the test which Mr MacDonald, Mr Snowden, and those who supported them have triumphantly survived. That is the test to which their dissentient colleagues ingloriously succumbed. That sums up llib matter. The second British Labour Government fell, not because of opposition from outside, but because it was largely composed of men who could not, or would not, place their country before their party.