New Britain herald., 1929-12-21
PERSONAL ENM|TY
 ST|RS PARLIAMENT
Both Houses Amused by Clashes
 Between Paired Foes

London. Dec. 21-"The Bull and the Red Flag Parliament"
 That's what they're calling the present lawmaking body of Great Britain, referring, of course. to the violent antiquities some of the mem- | bers of Parliament have toward each other. The only hard thing 10 decide in some cases is which mem Der is the red flag and which is 1 the bull.
 The most conspicuous example in the House of Lords is the case of | Lord Birkenhcad and Lord Farm GOT ! Both are very great lawyers Birken- head has been Attorney General. ! Lord Chancellor, and Secretary of State for India in Tory governments. Parmoor is a specially appointed | judicial member of the Privy Coun- cil and has been Attorney General l to the Prince of Wales. He used to i be Tory in politics. He is now Lord l President of the Council in the La i Dor government. and one of the handful of Labor peers in the House Tory.
 When Dignity Flces | Whenever Birkenhead secs Par moor on his feet, he charges in and | there is a verbal rough house in the 1 usually ra-dignified upper cham Der.
 Birkcuhead has never been known for his silky temper, nor the meek ness of his rctorts When he was plain F. l.. Smith. a young attorney, the story is told that q judge, hear ing case, angrily said:
 MT. Smith. it strikes me you are trying to express your contempt for this court
 ITO the contrary, my Lord" said Smith instantly, I'm doing my best to suppress it."
 In the House of Commons the fur usually flies when the Socialist Chancellor ot the ENchequer Philip Snowden faces Winston Churchill, the former Tory Chancellor. There is a striking contrast between the two men: Snowden. slight. pale of hue, with scholastic features: Churchill, biggish, red of tint and round of visage. The other day Churchill was asking some questions about a financial measure and was loudly demanding to know why Snowden was not present to answer for himself. Just then, Snowden limped in on his two sticks. He took just one look at Churchill and then snapped out acdly to the delight of the House:
 "l can assure Mir. Churchill that my absence was not due to any fear Of facing him."
 Another very hostile pair were Lloyd George, former Premier and present leader of the Liberals. and Wedgewood Bcnn, a former Liberal and now Secretary of State for h. dia in the Labor government. Even when Benn was a Liberal he did not love L. G. And he is a scrapper. The other day the House was discussing Indian affairs. Looking at Benn, who is q small man, l.. G. said some thing about a pocket edition Moses.
 Quick as flash, Benn rapped back:
 Well, anyway. l never worshippcd the golden calf
 This was an illuson to the famous big campaign fund l.. G. presideS over. Tho House roarcd and l.. G. then became really angry.
 Women Battle, Too
 But not all the hostilitics arc con- fined to the men. Lady Astor and Susan Lawrence usually manage to tap each other with something other than powder puffs They are also in striking contrast Lady Astor is liberal in the Tory camp. dainty. well-groomed with very decided Nirginian accent. Miss Lawrence. who is Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Health in the Labor government, is tall, with closely cropped gray hair, caring little about clothes, but looking like the earnest scholar.
 TO her, Lady AStOr always seems flippant and ill-informed. To Lady Astor, Miss Lawrence always seems ponderous and high hat. The House was discussing a widows pension bill the other day. Lady Astor asked question. Miss Lawrencc's reply was to gaze at her frigidly through her pince-ne To which Lady Astor re- torted:
 "The right honorable lady thinks I have the mind Of a child, but she is going to find this child's mind very troublesome as time goes on.'