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27 OCTOBER 1924

Stanley Baldwin, in a special message to The Scotsman, says he feels confident that the electorate of Scotland will endorse the sound constructive policy of the Unionist party. He adds that every vote for the Constitutional cause is vital.

Addressing nearly 3000 electors at Perth, Mr. Stanley Baldwin said that there was no precedent for guaranteeing a Russian loan. Russian propaganda in the Empire, he said, had not ceased, and speeches made by members of the Russian Government had convinced him that, if he had money to spare, he would be unwilling to lend it.

M. Rakovsky, the Soviet representative in London, has issued a statement denying the authenticity of the Communist manifesto, and characterising it as a gross forgery. Mr. M’Manus, the Communist leader, denies that he signed the document. The Soviet Government is demanding from the British Government an apology for what it describes as the use of a forgery in an official document.

Viscount Younger, speaking at Dumfries, referred to the Bolshevist plot. This, he said, was a case of life and death for the country, and it was a question which ought to be probed to the uttermost.

Addressing the women electors of Paisley, Herbert Asquith described class warfare as being just as great an offence against moral law as the most sanguinary war on the battlefield. The ultimate ascendancy of one class over another was, he said, the death-knell of liberty.

David Lloyd George, speaking at Chichester, said it had always been said that in order to help agriculture they must have a tariff and a duty, but the countries where they were doing without a duty were the countries where agriculture was most prosperous.

26 OCTOBER 1924

Major Beaumont Thomas, the Conservative candidate for Pontypool, was attacked by hooligans.

A demonstration was held by communist supporters in Trafalgar Square, London.

Burnt Oak station on the Hampstead-Edgware tube extension opened.

25 OCTOBER 1924

An amazing letter from the Presidium of the Executive Committee of the Communist International, Moscow, to the Central Committee of the British Communist party, has come into the hands of the Foreign Office. The letter gives instructions to British Communists as to how to bring about a revolution. The Foreign Office has written to the Chargé d’Affaires of the Soviet Union stating that His Majesty’s Government cannot allow such propaganda, and must regard it as a direct interference from outside in British domestic affairs.

Professor Charles Sarolea, in an article on Bolshevism in the Labour movement, shows the close connection which exists between Russian Bolshevism and British Socialism.

Lord Balfour, speaking at Haddington, denounced the policy of the Government with regard to Imperial interests.

Viscount Younger, speaking at Annan, said the choice before the electors was Constitutionalism or Socialism. If the electors wanted a stable Government and wanted to avoid annual elections, let them vote for the Unionist party, the only party which could have a majority. Socialism meant tyranny and the sinking of our freedom.

Lord Birkenhead addressed a Unionist demonstration at Aberdeen.

Sir Robert Horne, addressing the Hillhead electors, said the great questions which previously divided Conservatives and Liberals had for the most part disappeared, and today the differences between them were almost inappreciable in comparison with the great abyss that separated both of them from the creed of Socialism.

24 OCTOBER 1924

Stanley Baldwin, addressing a crowded meeting at Gravesend, and referring to Preference, said he pledged himself there, as he had pledged himself before, that there would be no taxation of food if the Unionist party were returned to power.

The Earl of Balfour, Sir Robert Horne, and Sir John Gilmour, in a letter to the Editor, emphasise the importance of defeating the Socialists, and urge Unionist electors in Scotland during the present election, in all constituencies where there is no Unionist candidate, to register their votes for the Liberal nominee, and to give him all the support in their power.

Lord Birkenhead in Glasgow dealt with the Prime Minister’s grievances and the Government’s failure to implement its promises.

Herbert Asquith, speaking at Paisley, denounced the attempts of the Socialists to prevent their opponents stating their case, and said he was not going to submit to the humiliation of having the free statement and interchange of views left at the mercy of a set of unintelligent hooligans.

David Lloyd George at Pembroke declared that Liberals made far too little of the part they had played in making the Empire possible. He suggested that some day a conciliated Ireland would render to the Empire the service which was rendered by the Boers in the Great War.

The Prime Minister, speaking at Aberavon, said that neither the Coalition nor the Tory Government had ventured to face the problem of supplying houses to be let for rent as opposed to houses built by private enterprise and sold when they were built.

The Prime Minister announced at Aberavon that the third Commissioner to the Irish Boundary Commission had just been appointed.

23 OCTOBER 1924

Stanley Baldwin points out in a message to the women electors that the future of their homes and their children depends greatly upon how the women of Great Britain use the power of their vote.

Lord Balfour, speaking at Peebles on behalf of the Unionist candidate, declared that even a brief experiment of Socialist State organisation would mean national disaster.

Herbert Asquith met with a hostile reception from a rowdy element at his meeting at Paisley, and was continually interrupted during his speech.

David Lloyd George spoke at Haverfordwest in support of his son’s candidature. He said it was a good thing that Labour had had an opportunity of office, if only to convince them of the impossibility of building up a great new social era in six months.

Speaking at Alnwick, Viscount Grey said the three qualities needed in public life today were sympathy, truth, and courage. The Labour Government was directed, not to inducing people to pull together, but to a class war.

Ramsay MacDonald, at Aberavon, said that Labour was making things move. That was why the other parties were so angry with Labour.

Socialists and Communists were present in large numbers at Sir Robert Horne’s meeting in Partick Burgh Hall, and created a disturbance. The stewards had to eject several of the interrupters from the hall.

22 OCTOBER 1924

Sir Alfred Mond was refused a hearing in Hackney, where the Socialists broke up his meeting.

Glasgow Magistrates issued a warning that they would take a serious view of any cases of disturbance or obstruction at election meetings which might come before them in their judicial capacity.

Lord Curzon, at a Unionist meeting in London, strongly condemned the Russian Treaty. He said that the policy of the last Government was British throughout. It was the policy of the firm hand.

Sir Robert Horne, addressing his constituents in Glasgow, said there had never been a grosser fraud perpetrated on this country than the Russian Treaty. Trade Unions had issued a circular stating that the Treaty should be carried through, but he did not believe that Trade Unions would lend a single penny of their funds to Russia.

Winston Churchill at Bristol said the Unionist programme might have served for an actively progressive Liberal Administration. “Trust the people” was a motto which should animate them in the present fight.

Sir Auckland Geddes, at Blackburn, said the Government in the field of foreign policy filled him with grave uneasiness. They seemed to speak not knowing, perhaps not caring, and other countries listening to their words believed them to be full of meaning.

Addressing his supporters at Paisley, Mr Asquith said that Mr Wheatley’s Bill now stood not as a monument to the creative insight and skill of the Labour Government, but as a co-operative undertaking in which all parties in the State had a hand.