Lives in Cricket No 15 - Michael Falcon

Introducing Captain Falcon at a meeting at Acle, John Cator said the MP had the honour of being the chairman of the parliamentary committee appointed to look into the matter of imported malting barley. This sort of post was usually given to a senior MP, so this was a feather in the cap of Falcon and his constituency. Speaking in reply, Captain Falcon said the government had passed some worthwhile legislation in the past year, such as the Housing Act (intended to help with the construction of much-needed housing) and the Workmen’s Compensation Act. Measures to help agriculture had also been taken. Falcon claimed it was not a free trade versus protection election but an employment versus unemployment election and that he ‘did not tremble at the artillery which he had to face’. Captain Falcon had to speak in favour of tariffs again a few days later, saying that the unsettled conditions in Europe made them necessary. On the same day, 30 November, he had a letter published in the Eastern Daily Press in which he stated that the habit of the Liberal press of calling him a ‘Conservative Free Trader’ was misleading and that he was a loyal supporter of the Prime Minister. Only a couple of days later he had to explain himself again, saying that under normal conditions he was in favour of free trade but that, in the current post-war chaos, the protection of vulnerable industries was necessary. The election turned into a re-run of the 1922 campaign with Seely representing the Liberals again and George Hewitt bearing the Labour colours. In his last few addresses Captain Falcon tried to turn the minds of the voters away from the subject of free trade. He stated that the crucial point of the election was the issue of unemployment and he campaigned in favour of an increase in state pensions and of an increase in the wage of farm labourers to 30 shillings a week. The Norfolk News commented favourably on Falcon’s candidature: ‘For the rest Captain Falcon is popular with all classes. A sportsman and a famous cricketer, he has made rapid progress in his political career, and unites with a strong love of Norfolk, and particularly his own division, an attractive personality which in the judgement of his own party, will again place him at the head of the poll.’ On election day, 6 December, the mood was quiet; the Eastern Daily Press commenting on the campaign that there was ‘the best of feeling displayed on all hands, the candidates were able to place their views before the electors without hindrance or interruption.’ At Westminster 52