LIBERAL DISSENSIONS.

Wairarapa Daily Times, 27 May 1926, Page 5

LIBERAL DISSENSIONS.

LLOYD GEORGE REBUKED.

A POLITICAL SENSATION.

Press Association-Electric Telegraph-Copyright. LONDON, w eunesuay.

The Earl of AsquivJi ami Oxford lias published a sharply worded letter condemning Air. Lloyd George’s refusal to attend the “shadow Cabinet” during the strike.

Air. Lloyd George replied disclaim ing the responsibility for creating. Lib oral dissensions.

Lord Oxford, in his letter to Air. Lloyd George, says: “I should not be doing my duty as leader of the Liberals if I did not convey my regret at your course during the greatest domestic crisis of! our time.” He points out that Mr. Lloyd George’s and his .colleagues of the “shadow Cabinet” discussed. the .Liberals ’ attitude to the, strike, and decided to condemn 'it, and to use such influence as they could.exert or command in resisting the Trade Union Congress’s ill-advised and antisocial campaign. ...

Lord Oxford then refers to the. .Liberal leader’s' speeches -in Uarliaineut and elsewhere in that direction,. and deals with Air. Lloyd George s “shad-ow-Cabinet,” at which a letter was read from him declaring that lie was obliged to dissent from the declarations’ of the Liberal leader.;

Lord Oxford sayes lie considered Air. Lloyd George’s absence a very grave matter, as lie believes it was the primary duty of all responsible Liberals at such a critical moment, and not the least of their leader in the House of Commons, to meet and discuss'the position. ' He finds it. impossible to reconcile such a 'refusal with his conception of political edmradship.

Lord Oxlord finally refers to an article by Air. Lloyd George, published in the American Press at the time when it was necessary to demonstrate British unity, in which he gave a highly-coloured picture of Britain s national straits, and predicted a protracted struggle and the.ultimate wearing down of the people through worry about their vanishing trade. He deplores such a presentation ot ithe .case to the outside, world on the authority of all cx-Prime Minister of Britain and the chairman of the Liberal Parliamentary Party, and concludes by stating that it gives him real pain to write this letter, which Air. Lloyd George will well know is not dictated by personal feeling.

Air. Lloyd George, in a long reply, says that although he did not attend the meeting of the “shadow Cabinet” lie sent a. full summary of his suggestions. He though that as the previous meeting of “shadow Cabinet” did not consider the suggestion, that unconditional surrender must precede the resumption of negotiations, ■ that the Liberal announcements., -in the “British Gazette, ’’ which he considered a complete departure from the Liberals’ agreed policy, had prejudged the decisions, and it. was accordingly unwise to attempt to amend them, for the purpose of avoiding friction. He intended no discourtesy to Lord Oxford, and was only anxious to avoid ainpl asantness, in the hope that the controversy would blow over. He adds: “My absence from the “shadow Cabinet” hardly justifies your provocative letter.”

Mr. Lloyd George declares that his Amcricanyartiele contained sentences lie never wrote. Even now he was not certain that his predictions in 'the article were wrong, owing to the danger of continuance of the quarrel unless Parliament assisted in a. solution. He concludes: “If there is another Liberal schism, what’s its object? Surely, neither my article nor my absence from the “shadow Cabinet” is the reason for it. lam willing to meet you and your colleagues if thereby I can help the party.” —A. and N.Z. Cable- Assn.

NEWSPAPER COMMENT. 'LONDON, Wednesday. The newspapers regard the controversy as a first-class political sensation, likely to result m Mr. Lloyd George’s departure from the Liberal Party, as it is considered' most difficult for an ex-Prime Minister to accept. an unprecedented public rebuke from a party leader.* Intense interest is being taken in Mr. Lloyd George’s speech at Llandudno on Wednesday. The letters of Lord Oxford and Mr. Lloyd George are featured in all the newspapers. The full text ’ occupied two of tlre. “Daily Telegraph’s’’ long columns. The “Daily Express,” in a front page article headed: “Bombshell for it he Liberal Party,” describes Lord Oxford’s as the most sensational political letter written for many years. The “Morning Post’s headline is “Exit Mr. Lloyd George,” but several political writers say it is a question which man will have to go—Mr. Lloyd George or Lord Oxford, If. is curious that neither the “Daily News” nor the “(Manchester Guardian,” which usually voice Asquithian views, endorses Lord Oxford’s letter. The “News” considers that the internal party controversy is especially inopportune at a time when thousands of miners are on the brink of starvation. The “Guardian” describes the letter as “violent in tone and unconvincing in argument.” The “Morning Post.” states: “Mr. 'Lloyd George's laboured explanations amount only to this —that: he proposed to support the Government and at the same time put them in the wrong, with the net result that he over-reached himself, and finds himself alone. He has parted from the Liberals, and the Socialists will not have him.”