British Commonwealth of Nations: From Tory to Liberal

COMMONWEALTH (British Commonwealth of Nations)

Lord Rothermere, brother of the late Lord Northcliffe, challenged by Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin to declare himself either for or against the Conservative Party, replied last week by coming out in The Weekly Dispatch in favor of ex-Prime Minister David Lloyd George. Thus has the great British newspaper magnate shifted his support from the Conservative to the Liberal Party.

The change is easy reckoning. The fate of most governments is decided upon their conduct of domestic affairs. Has Mr. Baldwin failed? According to many, and Conservatives are numbered among them, he has. These critics point out that the “P. M.’s” dilatory attitude during the general strike and coal strike cost the nation millions of pounds. More important, since the strike virtually nothing has been done to force the mine owners to reorganize their industry—the most badly needed reform in the country, by common consent.

Accordingly, there is much dissatisfaction in the land. Lord Rothermere, hating the Laborites more than he loves the Conservatives, apparently has come to the conclusion that the latter have not even a dog’s chance of winning the next elections, which many think will be held in 1929. At all events, he appears to think that Mr. Baldwin will not be able to win a comfortable working majority. Hence he has decided to back Mr. Lloyd George. That, at any rate, is the way it is summed up in British political circles.

Lord Rothermere frankly asks the British public: “If the nation suddenly decides that it must be led out of the industrial and economic wilderness at all costs, if agriculture wants action and industry wants action and those who seek peace and retrenchment and a new spirit of creative energy want action, where shall they look for the one big man except to Lloyd George? What other has ever done anything big? What young politician of any party gives promise today of even a tithe of Mr. Lloyd George’s proven statesmanship?”