This is a devastating rejoinder by one of the ablest of the younger Conservative M.P.s to the systematic series of attacks upon the Tory Party and its leaders which have been mounted by Left Wing publicists, in preparation for the coming General Election. It is political polemic in the top class, and we publish it as such. At the same time it is a fearless and clear-sighted analysis of the political and national weaknesses which all but led to utter and inevitable disaster; and as such it may well mark a turning-point in our political history.
Captain Hogg says, in effect "The Left have been vilifying the men of the Right for their own partisan reasons. They attack the personal and political record of the Tory Party. Very well. Let us have their record out for inspection, and compare the two. There is not a single point in the history of the last fifteen years or so, at which they were not plainly and utterly in the wrong. If there is to be talk of 'guilty men', who are to be put in the dock—the men of the Right who, whatever their mistakes, enabled the country to escape defeat or the men of the Left who did everything possible to ensure it?"
This hard hitting is good to watch. There has been too much shadow sparring by ingenious fly-weights under cover of portentous Roman names. But for many readers the lasting value of Captain Hogg's book will lie in the lessons it draws from the past—lessons of value to all parties and to all citizens.