Election Results

COMMONWEALTH

(British Commonwealth of Nations)

The results of the British general election (TIME, Oct. 13, et seq.) may fairly be said to have been a great surprise to all parties concerned and to the world at large. A Conservative victory had early appeared certain, but that it should have been the most crushing of any that the party has ever won, and the greatest since Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman rode into office on the tidal wave of 1906 with a majority of 356 seemed impossible.

Results. Parties.

PARTY NO. OF SEATS

Conservatives 412

Labor 152

Liberals 40

Constitutionalists 7

Independents 4

Total seats in Parliament 615

State of parties at dissolution (TIME, Nov. 3):

PARTY NO. OF SEATS

Conservatives 258

Labor 193

Liberals 158

Independents 5

Vacant 1

Total 615

Analysis. Conservatives gained 154 seats; Labor, Liberals, Independents lost respectively 41 seats, 118 seats, 1 seat; Constitutionalists are a new party. Conservative majority: 223.

Strongholds. The Conservatives took by storm the Lancashire and Glasgow divisions, for decades the strongholds of Liberalism and extreme Socialism. The London constituencies, which have often sponsored Liberalism, returned only three Liberal candidates. At Birmingham, however, which for years has been a shelter to Conservatism, the Conservatives narrowly missed a defeat.

Women: Last Parliament there were eight lady members:

Lady Astor Conservative

Duchess of Atholl Conservative

Mrs. Hilton Philipson Conservative

Mrs. Wintringham Liberal

Lady Terrington Liberal

Miss Margaret Bondfield Labor

Miss Dorothy Jewson Labor

Miss Arabejla Susan Lawrence. Labor

All the above with the exception of the three Conservative members were defeated. Miss E. Wilkinson wa's elected as a new Labor member. Out of 41 candidates, therefore, only 4 were elected, despite the fact that about half the electorate is composed of women.

Men. The most prominent defeats: ex-Premier H. H. Asquith (Liberal), Dr. MacNamara (Liberal), J. A. Pringle (Liberal), J. M. Hogge (Liberal). None of the chief Laborites was defeated. Mr. Asquith said, on hearing the result of the ballot in his constituency: "I am done." He said he would run again.

Sons. A feature of the results was that not one son of prominent members was returned. The defeated:

Malcolm MacDonald (Labor), son of Premier MacDonald.

Oliver Baldwin (Labor), son of ex-Premier Stanley Baldwin.

Gwelym Lloyd George (Liberal), son of ex-Premier David Lloyd George.

Arthur Henderson Jr., and W. Henderson (Labor), sons of Arthur Henderson, Secretary of State for Home Affairs.

Young (initials unknown) Mond (Liberal), son of Sir Alfred Mond.

With very few exceptions, Conservatives not only won a large number of seats but succeeded in greatly increasing their previous majorities. Even Premier MacDonald was returned to Parliament with a reduced majority. Among those few of the Liberals and Laborites who succeeded in increasing their majorities: Ex-Premier Lloyd George and Sir Alfred Mond. The most notable Conservative loss was sustained by Neville Chamberlain, brother of Austen Chamberlain, who had his majority cut from 1,554 to 77.

Foreign Comment:

U.S.:

The New York Times: "If Baldwin does not throw his majority out of the window again, the Conservatives are in office for many years."

The New York World: "Mr. MacDonald has burned down the Progressive house to roast the Liberal pig. For the doubtful benefit of eliminating the Liberals, he has enormously strengthened the Conservatives and given them a long, clear lease of power."

The New York Herald-Tribune: "In Europe, as well as in America, the people are sick of destructive radicalism and of the selfish fomentation of economic and political discontent. They want to get back to work. . . . The British election is only one manifestation of a present world-wide mood."

The New York Evening Post: "Great Britain will experience all the difference between a weak and a strong Government. Politics, for the next few years, will no longer hang upon the ragged edge of uncertainty and doubt. In foreign affairs, the rest of the world will at least know just where Great Britain stands, whether for good or ill."

FRANCE:

Le Temps: "He [Premier MacDonald] based his hopes on the successes of a foreign policy which he claimed had been his. The Labor leader thought he had settled in ten months those grave problems which the Conservatives and Liberals before him had been unable to adjust. The British vote shows he was mistaken."

L'Intransigeant: "All Europe remains poisoned with the germ of war. . . A frank and disinterested European to believe that Labor has gained accord alone could save us all. But no one dares to admit it."

L'Information: "Too many general and local circumstances change each election. However, one is tempted ground, and that England, in spite of the Conservative victory at the expense of the Liberal party, will experience social anxieties similar to those of Germany before 1914."

GERMANY:

Bocrse Conrrier, rebuking the Ger man Monarchists: "A Tory democracy will be very careful not to drive more voters into the Socialist camp by making laws which are annoying to the mass of the people."

ITALY:

L'Epoca: "The advent of Baldwin doubtless will have profound reac tions throughout Europe, especially in Germany, where elections are imminent, and in France, where Pre mier Herriot appears to be fulfiling his promises to extend French influence by international agreement."

RUSSIA:

Izvcstia: "It is now evident that in England, as in all other countries, the Labor Party can capture power only by a definite and open class struggle."

Conservative Cabinet. The last Cabinet of Mr. Baldwin was constituted as follows:

Prime Minister and First Lord of the Treasury, *Rt. Hon. Stanley Baldwin Lord Privy Seal, Rt. Hon. Lord Robert Cecil Lord President of the Council and Deputy Leader of the House of Lords...Rt. Hon. Marquess of Salisbury Lord High Chancellor, Rt. Hon. Viscount Cave Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rt. Hon. Neville Chamberlain Secretaries of State: Home Affairs, Rt. Hon. William Clive Bridgeman Foreign Affairs and Leader of House of Lords, Rt. Hon. Marquess Curzon of Kedleston Colonies Rt. Hon. Duke of Devonshire War Rt. Hon. Earl of Derby India Rt. Hon. Viscount Peel Scotland Rt. Hon. Viscount Novar Air Rt. Hon. Sir Samuel Hoare First Lord of the Admiralty, Rt. Hon. L. C. M. S. Amery President, Board of Trade, Rt. Hon. Sir Philip Lloyd-Greame Minister of Health, Rt. Hon. Sir William Joynson-Hicks President of Board of Education, Rt. Hon. E. F. L. Wood Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries, Rt. Hon. Sir Robert A. Sanders Minister of Labor, Rt. Hon. Sir Montague Barlow Postmaster-General, Rt. Hon. Sir Laming Worthington-Evans

It was supposed in London that Mr. Baldwin would form his Cabinet (which has been sitting since its resignation in January of this year as a "Shadow Cabinet") much as above, with the exception that a place will be found for Mr. Austen Chamberlain, Sir Robert Home, Mr. Winston Churchill and Lord Birkenhead. Many and fervent were the hopes that Lord Curzon would decline, if offered, the office of Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.

At this time, there came a book from the publishers* which is, in the jargon of journalism, "of great news value."The book is written in a style that is distinctive of the "Gentlemen with a Duster." It champions Conservatism against both Liberalism and Socialism, and in so doing the language is direct, conclusive, partisan, brilliant. It is, or seems to be, a thousand pities that the author failed to include such Conservative personalities as Lord Curzon and the Duke of Devonshir. The dusting of these gentlemen might have disturbed the atmosphere at Westminster, convulsed the author with literary sneezes and choked the readers with amusement not unmixed with that grain of truth that invariably deserts the object and sticks to the duster.

Thanks. After the victory had become established, ex-Premier Baldwin thanked the electorate thus:

"On the eve of the election, I appeal to my fellow-countrymen and women to give the Conservative and Unionist Party a secure majority. I thank them warmly for the way in which they have responded to that appeal. To all who have contributed to this phenomenal victory, I am most sincerely grateful.

"The result of the election has more than justified the profound confidence which I have always had in the political judgment and common sense of the British people when confronted with an issue of grave importance. In this hour of victory, I offer my grateful thanks to all who labored in the cause which we have so much at heart."

Future. The Labor Government was hourly expected to resign. Just as frequently, ex-Premier Stanley Baldwin was expected to be summoned to the Palace by the King and requested to form a new Cabinet. This procedure would obviate the passage of a no-confidence motion in the next Parliament, which meets Nov. 18.

What are the Conservatives likely to do? They will not make a government-guaranteed loan to Russia, but they are not likely to withdraw recognition of that country, having for so long been staunch advocates of the doctrine of "continuity in foreign policy." Despite the alarums and excursions of the new Opposition, observers found no reason to believe that the Conservative foreign policy would be any less conciliatory than that of Labor. In this respect, the Conservatives have had an excellent object lesson and, perhaps, they have learned it.

In domestic politics, the Baldwin Government will probably reimpose the McKenna duties (TIME, May 12), because they afford some measure of protection to Empire produce, the lack of which had disastrously affected the automobile industry of Britain. It seems established by the huge Conservative vote in Lancashire, home of the cotton mills and Richard Cobden of free trade fame, that protection is not so much of a bugaboo as was Socialism; therefore, a trend to protective tariffs is more than probable.

In the main, as Mr. Baldwin not so long ago remarked, Labor Legislation will have to be studied and, if necessary, revised.

The Singapore naval base is one of those measures that now seems certain of being revised.*

Significance. The great issue of the election was a fear of Socialism, expressed in the policy of the Labor Party. Socialism, at least for a time, is now a dead letter--an overwhelming body of the electorate voted against it. An even greater body would have voted against it, had many of Labor's supports believed that their leaders would be influenced by the extremists.

But more important is the shake-up of the Conservative Party. Who did it? No doubt the "Shadow Cabinet" of all the talents. The fact remains that they have done for Conservatism what Disraeli did for it in the last century -- they have modernized it; hence the oft-quoted epithet: "The Conservatives of to day would have been the Radicals of yesterday."But in following Disraeli's tactics, they have reaffirmed his principles. The fight which Conservatives and Liberals have won against the Laborites has ended in a victory for the rights of individuals over the rights of the State. Disraeli put it more clearly when he attacked the Liberals: "I prefer the liberty we now enjoy to the Liberalism they promise, and find something better than the rights of men in the rights of Englishmen."The Conservatives have made it: "We prefer the liberty we now enjoy to the Socialism they promise, and find something better than the rights of the State in the rights of Englishmen."

*The prefix Right Honorable indicates that the member is a Privy Councillor. All members of the Cabinet have to be Privy Councillors.

*The Window of Westminster--A Gentleman with a Duster--Putnam ($2.50).

*The Singapore naval base was a Conservative project, which was shelved by the Labor Government. It is important to bear in mind that there is a large dock at present at Singapore, but its accommodations are insufficient for many or large battleships.