BRITISH CABINET

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23884, 11 August 1939, Page 11

BRITISH CABINET

THE NEED FOR REFORM MR CHURCHILL A MEMBER? The demand for the inclusion of Mr Churchill in the Cabinet becomes stronger, wrote the political correspondent of the Manchester Guardian on July 3. It is notably reinforced today by the Daily Telegraph, which urges it as a demonstration to the Axis Powers of our firm resolve to resist further aggression, and also as a concession to public feeling. More, than any other newspaper the Daily Tdlegraph is the organ of what may be called Central Conservatism, the Conservatism which has hitherto been hostile to Mr Churchill as the most damaging critic of the sacred dispensation “ National ” Government. But apart from the Daily Telegraph, the need for strengthening the Government in ’even wider ways is discussed with increasing earnestness day by day. It is not-now discussed, as the oeriodic reconstructions of the Government have previously been, in terms of the personal fortunes of Ministers or of those outside aspirants fob office. / The times are too serious. The dan- / gerous months have begun, and most i members are agreed that all that mat- I ters is that we should have the strongest possible Government that can be formed outside the Opposition, Labour preferring to support the new foreign policy from without. Personal prejudicei and old enmities must give way to this paramount tieed. That is the temper that has been rapidly growing in.these last few days. Mr Chamberlain’s Reluctance

The inclusion of Mr Churchill in the Government is the .first and most obvious way of strengthening the Government. Now that .Conservative resistance to Mr Churchill has disappeared or been worn down by the remarkable vision and prevision he has shown in the last four years the resistance can only com? from Mr Chamberlain and perhaps from some of his senior colleagues. It is not hard to guess why Mr Chamberlain is reluctant to take in Mr Churchill. That unresting mind and boundless appetite for work could not help but exert a transforming influence on this Cabinet, and the influence might soon rival the Prime Minister’s. The danger «s real enough. But the right. Prime Minister could control Mr Churchill, make use of his great' qualities, and neutralise his .defects, which are mostly the defects of his qualities. Asquith it. and sordid Mr Lloyd George.

The Next Prime Minister? • « Mr Chamberlain were to retire it is the common opinion that his only possible successor is Lord Halifax, it the «™ vit y of the times L he lP no objection to his being in the Lords. f Lord Halifax is understood to be a more sympathetic figure to Mr Churchul than Mr Chamberlain, and the possibilities of co-operation between the two, it is thought,' would be distinctly er^a P s it is looking too far snead, but some members openly say that if and when Mr Chamberlain retires they would like to see Lord 'Halifax fs Prime Minister, with Mr Churcmll leading in the Commons. There should be no misunderstanding a J?° ut this, however, that the admission of Mr Churchill to the Cabinet alone would not satisfy all members. By no means. For a long time now even the loyalist supporters of the National Government have seen that there was a good deal wanting in this Government, that there is more dead wood in it than a Government can carry in ordinary times, never mind the present, Mr Eden’s return is desired by many only a little less than that of Mr Churchill, for in quality he is much superior to half a dozen members of the present' Cabinet, besides which Mussolini has succeeded in ' proving him a much-abused man. Claims of Otheni

Mr Duff Cooper could also be brought back with some advantage. He Is perhaps rather more magisterial than his gifts warrant, but he has a fine sense of public duty and great courage, invaluable qualities now. Also he has served at the War Office and the Admiralty. Both in ability and experience of office, Mr Amery could claim to supplant a tired member of this Cabinet. Why he has been so consistently passed over, first by Lord Baldwin and then by Mr Chamberlain, is one of the minor mysteries of politics. Unless to have opposed “appeasement ” is to be a perpetual bar. Mr Harold Nicolson ought also to find a place somewhere in this Qovernhient by right of both brains and of an un- . common experience of diplomacy and affairs. And there are other younger men who could rejuvenate this Government if Mr Chamberlain only dared to open careers to the talents.