BRITAIN'S LEADERS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24450, 8 November 1940, Page 8

BRITAIN'S LEADERS

; ':': ;■•■ '- ; ♦;/■;•'.'■."'"---'' '"" PREMteR OUTSTANDING FUTURE OF MR BEVIN • ~. LONDON, Nov. 1. After 14 months the war has not yet thrown up any great man on the Allied side who has become celeprated as -a: commander either on seai. land or in the air, although in the'political sphere a forecast of Mr Ernest: Bevin as .Britain's probable hext-Prime,Minister could not be retarded as reckless;.; '" Politically, Mr Churchill holds, an unchallengeable I position. It is hot only that his perfectly-turned speeches, studded, with stark or memorable phrases'which nobody misunderstands, have roused the country, but his willingness to break with custom in appointing Ministers shows his readjness to use new men 'aM ; :ihewv methods* to meet' 'new •;' threats. ■ - ■ It is as a politico-strategist that -Mr Churchill now faces his great ■test. The Government seems to :Vhave absolved itself from the blame ' of "the Dakar fiasco, but it is neces- ' sary to prevent defeats and achieve ; ..substantial victories before the ."Prime Minister's reputation as a ' .war leader can ride Secure. It is >by the - campaign in Greece and the therefore that Mr | Churchill will next be judged. No other Minister has been so ; cried up lately as Mr Bevin, who is one of Labour's representatives in the War Cabinet. If the premiership were vacant to-morrow he probably • would fill it* ih'spite of the fact that a few months.ago he was not even i,a member of "Parliament. On the .other hand, the list'of ."ex-future Prime Ministers" grows -as party lines become more or less obliterated. It includes Mr Walter Elliot, Mr Oliver Stanley, Mr Anthony Eden, Mr Arthur Greenwood, and perhaps even Mr Herbert Morri:son, who is reputed not to stand high with his own party—Labour.