His Majesty's Loyal Opposition

Britain's highest distinction short of a knighthood is the Order of Merit (O.M.). Only 24 living persons may hold it. A reward for exceptional services in the arts, literature & science, its holders include Poet T. S. Eliot, Painter Augustus John, Composer Vaughan Williams, and one honorary member--Dwight Eisenhower.

Lately, the O.M. has served a new purpose: to reward outgoing Prime Ministers who don't want a peerage which would raise them to the lofty but ineffectual House of Lords. Winston Churchill got his O.M. following his party's defeat at the polls in 1945. Last week, in recognition of eleven years of continuous public office (from the time he became Lord Privy Seal in Churchill's wartime coalition cabinet), Labor's Clement Attlee received from King George VI the red and blue enamel cross of the O.M. Like Churchill, who might have become a duke, Attlee turned down an earldom, to stay in the House of Commons as Leader of His Majesty's Loyal Opposition. Churchill joined in the cheering.

Back in his old place as Leader of the Opposition for the first time since 1940, Clement Attlee, O.M., listened as Mr.

Speaker read the King's Speech outlining the Tory government's new policy.

"One of the thinnest Speeches from the Throne I have ever heard," he said, to the delight of Labor's backbenchers. The rest of his remarks were devoted to sprightly tilts at the Tories, enjoyed by both sides of the House. "The Opposition will be vigilant but not factious," he added, more seriously. "We shall not oppose merely for the sake of opposition." Whether his pledge would be honored by Labor's loud little .band of left-wingers, led by Rebel Nye Bevan, remained to be seen.

Certainly partisanship was not dead. The weekly Spectator held a competition for political "ruthless rhymes," and reported that many of the entries, while clever, were unprintable. Sample of the printable sort:

The other evening just at seven I drove my Bentley into Bevan; Although I felt I was a sinner, I really did enjoy my dinner.

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