MR A. P. HERBERT

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXII, 30 November 1938, Page 5

MR A. P. HERBERT

A REST ENFORCED I By Air Mail -Own Correspondent! LONDON, 10th November. Parliament will miss Mr A. P. Herbert, the Independent back-bencher, who finds himself compelled by overwork to take a rest for several weeks Although he entered the House of Commons without any specific party leanings, he inclines always to support of the Government in the division lobbies, and he is certainly among the best debating men in Ministerial ranks, which could do with better speakers. Mr Herbert does not take part in debate very often, but when he does it is usually on subjects of domestic importance—as, for example, the famous divorce measure of last sessions—as distinct from foreign affairs. He is the only pro-Govern-ment M.P. who has had the initiative to criticise the redoubtale Mr Churchill, that stormy petrel of the Government ranks, and he evoked cheers by his tilt at this elder statesman when the Sandys affair was at its controversial height. As the M.P. for Oxford University, he is said to have clinched the election result by his answer to the question. “What do you think of the agricultural situation?” “Gentlemen.” replied Mr Herbert, “I know nothing whatever about agriculture.”