ABSTRACT
Certainly, the Ministerial case for a Parliament Bill and a new General Election, after the Peers should have rejected it, might be held to have been considerably weakened in many eyes and especially in those of the King, the ultimate use of whose prerogatives was already in question. The Prime Minister’s carefully-balanced phrases, studied and commented upon all over the world, are worth repeating at some little length. The impending Dissolution was announced on November 18th and considerable outstanding Sessional business, including the Finance Bill, was pushed through before November 28th. Government’s opponents, of course, guessed that Dissolution was hardly the wish of the Crown and had, too, the further argument that Ministers had no constitutional case for a Dissolution while their Bill on the Upper House was still before the Peers, who had not rejected it even though they were discussing possible alternatives.
