Break-Up

"I have never followed any man," said Ernest Bevin in the days of desperate wartime coalition. "But I will follow that man." He was speaking of Winston Churchill. Last week, in the days of postwar doubt and division, the friendship between the Conservative aristocrat and the Socialist commoner finally broke.

For five hours, Commons hotly debated Britain's proposed withdrawal from Egypt and the hitch in the Cairo negotiations. Churchill insisted that British troops stay in Egypt to protect the Suez Canal. Replied Bevin: "It is not a very popular thing now in international affairs to maintain troops on other people's soil. It is becoming out of fashion."

Churchill kept lashing out across the floor, heckling and interrupting while Bevin spoke. Cried Ernie finally: "Party spirit [has] gained the upper hand of national interest ... I have watched Mr. Churchill as a great patriot and half an hour afterward he is a party man. . . ." Snapped Churchill: "We all know that you are the only patriot in the land."

From Laborites came a furious outcry against Churchill. "He is the rudest man in the House!" "Why don't you go home?" "Get out!" "Don't behave like a schoolboy!" Raging, Winston Churchill leaned forward, looked straight at Ernie Bevin, and stuck out his tongue.

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