LABOUR MINISTRY

Press, Volume LX, Issue 18219, 1 November 1924, Page 15

LABOUR MINISTRY

MAY RESIGN AT ONCE. INCREASED VOTE IN ELECTORATES. (bzutes's TELEOSiKS.) (Received October 31st, 8.4-3 p.m.) IjONDON. October 30. Well-informed Labourites i-xpres.-> tluopinion now that Mr Mac-Donald I resign office before PanTamot meets, to allow time for the tornvn'ion of Conservative Cabinet, which mit the King's Speech to tin" Commons. One objection to Mr Mac Donald fe immediate resignation is hir- intention to investigate fully the Zinovieff lot to i. Labourites arc r.t too disappointed with tlie result of the election to point out th.it the aggregate Labour vote shows a marked increase, but l'.ok wns against them as regards representation. They declare tliat Labour, as the onh alternative Government, must sooner or later gain an absolute majority. Mr Mac Donald. at Cardiff, said Labour's poll of 5.000.0U0 votes was a wonderful manifestation of its power.

FOUR WOMEN ELECTED

REPRESENTATION REDUCED BY

HALF. (seuter's telzgeams.> (Received October 31st, 9.30 p.m.) LONDON, October 30. Only four women were elected out of 41 candidates, namely, Lady Astor, the Duchess of Atholl and Mrs Philipson (Conservatives), and a newcomer, Miss Wilkinson (Labour). Last year eight women returned. Women secured 401.7.30 votes.

LONG RECORD BROKEN. BREACH IN BIRMINGHAM'S CONSERVATISM. (Received October 31st, 0.0 p.m.) LONDON, October 30 A feature cf the election in Birmingham was the Labour victory at King's Norton, where Mr Dennison beat Sir Herbert Austin by 133 votes, thus breaking the solid Unionist representation of Birmingham which had existed since 1886. [Sir Herbert Austin, who is chairman of the Austin Motor Company, was without an absolute majority in a triangular contest last year.] One of the most surprising results in Scotland was the defeat of Mr E. Shinwell (Under-Secretary for Mines) in Linlithgowshire, where the Conservative 'turned a minority of 5000 into a majority of 600. THE LABOUR LEADERS. "NOT DISMAYED." LONDON. October 30. Mr Mac Donald said that they sometimes found defeat was the finest thing that could happen to any party. In view of the state of trade and the general caitlook he did not enr/y the Tory Party its job. Mr J. H. Thomas (Secretary of State for the Colonies) said he would be a hypocrite if he did not say he was frankly disappointed. The main factor in the turnover was the anti-Labour combination, and also the Russian letter at the last moment, which played a tremendous part, but he was not in the least dismayed. (Received October 31st, 10.45 p.m.) LONDON, October 30. Mr J. R. Clynes, said the Labour defeat was not a political disaster. It was due to the manner in which the Tory leaders were able to exploit the misunderstanding and racial feeling in regard to Labour's Russian policy. "We are certain that the Conservatives later on will suffer the mortification of making an arrangement with Russian similar to tba.t which Labour proposed. They won't dare reverse Labour's foreign policy." COMPARATIVE MAJORITIES. The majorities of British Governments over the last 38 years, until the Labour Government took office without a majority this year, have been: — Year. Party. Majority. 1886 Unionist 114 1892 Liberal 40 1895 Unionist 151900 Unionist 134 1906 Liberal 35(5 1910 (.Jan.) Liberal 124 1910 (Dec.) Liberal I-* 5 1918 Coalitiou -63 1922 Conservative 79 "DAMNABLE." TRADES HALL VERDICT. The Trades Hall was not a cheerful place yesterday when the news of the utter rout cf the British Labour Party became known. Up to the last a much different state of affairs was hoped for. "You can say," remarked one union secretary, "that the comment at e Trades Hall on the result of the British elections was that it is damnab e. The hollow, laughter of seme ieJJow 6ecretark-6 who heard the remark juc icated a certain amount of concurrence. In an attenmt to counteract the gloom, another secretary predicted that a certain journal published m the city would announce this morning that the result was an exemplification ( of the saving: "Vox populi, vox Dei. Still another commentator remarked that it had been hoped that when Labour was in possession of the Treasury Benches it would have been able to select its own time at which, and its own principle —preferably some question of social reform that would have made a strong appeal to the electors—ou which it would go to the country. Instead, it had been compelled to appeal to the constituencies on such comparatively unimportant matters as the Campbell case, the Russian treaty, and the Ziuovieff letter!