PARTY GOVERNMENT 211

Insurance—some had been settled, while others appeared as
aspects of the new problem. A series of Coalitions weakened the
Liberal4 Party, and made Labour the chief opponent of the
Conservatives. Coalitions do not destroy the party system but
give a new alignment of parties in accord with the new problems
demanding solution.

The criticisms from the opposite angle, that party politics
suppress individuality in politicians, are more useful. Though
they do not constitute a complete case against the party system,
they draw attention to certain dangers of which the party
politician should be forewarned. First, the presence in the House
of Commons of a majority supporting the Government means
that ill-considered actions and unwise clauses in Bills can be
defended without argument, by the simple use of voting power.
The private Member on the Government benches may admit to
himself that he does not like this piece of policy; that the
Opposition's arguments are unanswerable; that his constituents
are quite justified in ^writing indignant letters. But what if the
Whips say, "The Government makes this a matter of confidence;
if it is defeated there will be an Election"? The Member, at the
worst, does not want to risk his own seat; more creditably, he
my feel that the Government's policy is so much better than the
Opposition's that he ought not to endanger it for the sake of
one point. The Government majority is particularly objectionable
to the Opposition when it is used to apply one of the forms of
Closure. Yet if the Government had not this weapon it could
not know from week to week, how long it would be in power;
without the Closure it could plan no~3me-table of work, as the
Labour Government of 1929-31 discovered., Such inefficiency
of Government provokes'contempt for Parliament and for free
discussion. The ordinary Members can make their voices heard
if they insist on frequent meetings of their Parliamentary Party,
where by discussion and vote the party's immediate policy and
tactics can be determined; then the action enforced by the Whips
will be that which a majority of the party has approved. If the