WAR LEADERS

Waikato Times, Volume 127, Issue 21222, 19 September 1940, Page 13

WAR LEADERS

INTERESTING PEN PICTURES HORE-BELISHA AS BUTT A warm welcome is assured “ What of the Mighty? ” by Watchman. The House of Commons is described as a masculine assembly, masculine in its humour and severity. It has not lost its earlier lively character. Its weaknesses are due to human frailty. “ Hore-Belisha was the most promising butt for Goebbels. His reputation was a bubble blown up to a mighty size. He lacked those great and indefinable qualities which compel the uncritical loyalty of companions.” Lord Halifax is “ the embodiment of balance, purity and sanity. He reads a speech with care, and deliberation, pausing now and then as though he is smitten with a wave of sell-abasement.” The greater power Winston Churchill is given the wiser will be the settlement. The vision and genius of Winston will found the kingdom of the just on sure and enduring foundations. Ilankey is “ a confidential encyclopedia.” . . . Lord Chatfield “ a sailor who can deliver a speech as well as he can handle a battleship.”

Eden and Churchill “ Eden will do much to cement Imperial and national unity. Winston Churchill values his judgment highly.” L. S. Amery is “ a diminutive statesman with the outlook of Kipling,, and the silken manner of a specialist in nervous diseases.” Rob Hudson (Minister of Shipping) drifts “ amiably along, looking as though he has just inherited a fortune and has been celebrating it with a hot bath.” Alexander (Labour) is a Baptist and has been a lay preacher. He served in the Army and became a captain. The “Watchman” discusses whether the peerage will survive with its privileges and whether women can succeed in politics.