A BITTER SPEECH

Evening Post, Volume CIX, Issue 46, 24 February 1930, Page 9

A BITTER SPEECH

LONDON AND LABOUR-LEADERS

Lord Birkenhead was in an aggressive mood when ho spoke at the annual dinner of the West Lewisham Conservative and Unionist Association.

"I confess," ho,said, "I am astonished that the City of London, with which I have had a long ■ association, should gallop forward to acclaim Mr. Eamsay Mac Donald and Mr. Snowden, ana to give them tho Freedom of the City. I wish to speak of that with reticence, and I would only say this, that from 1914 to 1918 many great ana small Englishmen devoted their mental and physical efforts to the fortunes of this country. '' The City of London was never lacking in its own contribution, and that — in the first year of this Government, before even the first Budget is presented, knowing how cataclysmic to •the fortunes of the City of London their proposals may be —that the" should rush forward and, with premature enthusiasm, honour these statesmen, is surprising. (A. voice: 'I think you are wrong.') .. , "I do not caro whether you think I am wrong. I neither value nor wish for 'your opinion: I am simply stating my own. "In tho years 1914 to 1918 it was in the balanco whether this Empire survived or was smashed. What did these two gentlemen who have been honoured do? Mr. Snowden contributed a constant campaign of defeatism, and Mr. Eamsay Mac Donald incited the only sliriko that has ever taken place in the mercantile marine when they refused to convey him to a Soviet conference in Eussia. Do you think I am wrong?"