POLITICS IN BRITAIN.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 2493, 14 October 1922, Page 4

POLITICS IN BRITAIN.

GENERAL ELECTION PREDICTED LLOYD, GEORGE IN FIGHTING MOOD.

LONDON, Oct. 11. The Daily Chronicle says: “It is as certain as things can be that there will bo an election this side of Christmas. The only doubt is whether the election can take place before the meeting of Parliament in November. The Prime Minister is in a fighting mood. Mr Austen Chamberlain has arranged a Birmingham meeting in support of Mr Lloyd George. It is to bo hoped ho will deal faithfully with the Conservatives who are trying to break up the Coalition. Mr Austen Chamberlain is giving loyal support to Mr Lloyd George.” The reports from the constituencies show that not a few Conservative associations are threatening to revolt as a prelude to the annual Unionist conference in November.

Mr Lloyd George’s friends in the Coalition favour an early general election. Some think Mr Lloyd George should retire and allow Mr Austen Chamberlain to form a Cabinet, but it is understood Mr Lloyd George would advise the King to dissolve Parliament in such circumstances.

Sir R. Horne has postponed his visit to the United States to discuss the funding of the war debt, and LieutenantColonel Amery has postponed his visit to Canada. The Westminster Gazette declares: “Mr Lloyd George is more anxious about the revolt in the Coalition ranks than about the attacks of the Opposition. All the movements behind the scenes indicate a revival of the struggle which elicited the threatened resignation earlier in the year. The Premier is still determined to remain master in his own house, and- will not tolerate the hostile criticism to which he is being subjected by the Tory critics, and will demand assurances that will not be stabbed in the back by the Tories at the forthcoming annual meetings. There lnust be no talk of a vote of censure or any attack in the House of Commons on his Near Eastern policy. Mr Lloyd Gerogc i is very angry and will display his anger | in some dramatic way. Ho may make a sudden appeal to the country, dragging tho Coalition with him willy nilly before the Tories have time to escape from the ruins. Alternatively, lie might retire in disgust for a time in which to meditate upon some plan of action which is sure to be distasteful to some of his present colleagues.” —A. and N.Z. cable. OPINION EXPRESSED IN PARIS. PARIS, Oct. 11. A writer in the Petit Parisian, referring to the demand for Mr Lloyd George’s retirement, says: “According to the best judges of English political custom, Mr Lloyd George should have resigned in February or March. The close of the Genoa Conference was the turning point. The Russians were the chief cause of his attack. At present he is like a watch with a broken spring. There is, however, no < certainty that' he will hearken to the cry for retirement. If he fell, he would only fall for a while.” —A. and N.Z. cable.