Nelson Evening Mail MONDAY, JUNE 15, 1936 A BRITISH MINISTER’S DOWNFALL

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXX, 15 June 1936, Page 4

Nelson Evening Mail MONDAY, JUNE 15, 1936 A BRITISH MINISTER’S DOWNFALL

ANYONE, who is at all familiar with English Parliamentary history, will realise what a shock both Parliament and people received from the finding of the Budget Tribunal on Mr J. H. Thomas and Sir Alfred Butt, charged with disclosing or using official information for the purpose of making money on the Stock Exchange. The Prime Minister (Mr Stanley Baldwin), in moving the acceptance of the Tribunal’s report, spoke of Mr Thomas’s long public career, and was evidently actuated by a desire to make his colleague’s retirement from office as devoid of pain as possible. Even the' Leader of the Opposition and Parliamentary Labour Party (Major Attlee) “regretted that Mr Thomas’s long and distinguished career should have such an ending,” and, in commenting upon Mr Thomas’s denial that he had “consciously betrayed a Budget secret,” the London “Times” said, “The country will be satisfied with the word of a so well-known and trusted publicservant,” and the “Manchester Guardian,” a well-known Liberal journal, said, “The public will feel the greatest sympathy for Mr Thomas.” In fact, though there was no attempt to belittle the serious nature of so grave an offence as would be the improper use of official political information by a Minister of the Crown, the tendency of the English press seems to have been to sympathise with Mr Thomas in his downfall. But, in order that in the future there shall be no question of a Minister of the Crown being involved, as was the ex-Minister for the Colonies, it has been suggested by the Chancellor of the Exchequer that Lloyd’s shall recognise “a sort of close season from the end of the financial

year at 31st March until the Budget is announced in the House of Commons, during which time no Budget risks shall be accepted.” Such an arrangement would be acceptable to Lloyd’s, “and thus what happened,” he said, “would not happen again.” Thus it is that a most serious fault is dealt with by the British Government, not harshly or vindictively, but quietly and firmly in a dignified manner, with the result that what is undoubtedly a grievous offence, has not been expanded into a great political scandal. The integrity of the British Government is in no way impugned, and the character of British political life is in no way involved. The lesson to be learned, not only in England but in every British country where free and elective political institutions exist, is that the reputation of Ministers of the Crown must be beyond suspicion of using their exalted position for the purpose of private gain by dabbling in speculations which may be influenced by the Government’s policy. Mr Thomas’s retirement from politics is the most graceful apology he can make for a mistake which will be regretted in all British political circles. A reassuring aspect of this disturbing incident is the promptness and openness with which it has been dealt, and the evident leniency with which the English press has dealt with the ex-Minister, who, by his action, has show-n a desire to mitigate the mistake he had made. Such incidents have been very rare in the political history of Britain and of the Dominions, and are not likely to recur.