“Taranaki Central Press” TUESDAY, JANUARY 12, 1937. LLOYD GEORGE IN TROUBLE.

Taranaki Central Press, Volume IV, Issue 331, 12 January 1937, Page 4

“Taranaki Central Press” TUESDAY, JANUARY 12, 1937. LLOYD GEORGE IN TROUBLE.

According to a cable message yesterday, Mr. Lloyd George is again at loggerheads with his constituents because of the message he sent to the Duke of Windsor deploring "the shabby and stupid treatment’’ accorded the ex-King. Such an attack upon the constitutional powers of the nation, following Lloyd Georges support for Herr Hitler after a recent visit to Germany, is proving too much for the Liberals of Wales, and a meeting has been called to patch up the quarrel.

Events of the past few years all point clearly to the fact that Lloyd George is a spent force with the public of Britain, however valiantly he tries for a “come-back.” Everybody will admit the brilliance of the fiery litle Welshman and give him every credit for the work he did during the Great War as the British Government leader. -In those days he was fortunate. He possessed, and still does, a dynamic personality, a brilliant mind, and a wonderful power of oratory. But he held his people by sheer force of personality and oratory rather than soundness of judgment and stable thought. He was the man for a time of national excitement, but no place can be found for him in a time when solidity is required more than brilliance.

Between two men, the contrast could hardly be greater than between Lloyd George and Baldwin. The present Prime Minister has none of that brilliance, either of wit or ingenuity, so obvious in the Liberal leader. Baldwin actually mistrusts oratory, which he has described as the harlot of the arts.’ 1 here could never be any personal or political alliance between Baldwin and Lloyd George. Our present Imperial Prime Minister possesses none of that picturesque opportunism which so characterises Lloyd George.

It is surprising that Mosley has not enlisted the ex-Prime Minister in his Fascist organisation. For the latter has become an ardent admirer of the European dictators. That, on the other hand, is hardly surprising. Watch a spent squib squirming on the ground before its final splutter. Uncharitable though such a parallel may be, Lloyd George is squirming and wriggling in every direction in the vain hope that he may again capture jthe public’s fancy. But his day is done, and the Liberals of Wales may soon ring down the curtain on his colourful career.