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| | VICTOR BAILEY | The Shadow of the Gallows: The Death Penalty and the British Labour Government, 1945-51 | Law and ... |
 | | Ede was a moderate, cautious, and practical politician, certainly no innovator, and, as such, likely to listen to his permanent officials. |
 | | James Griffiths, minister of national insurance, informed Attlee: "as all through my life I have been for the abolition of the death penalty, I feel constrained to abstain from voting tonight." Kenneth Younger, undersecretary at the Home Office, and Ede's main assistant in steering the bill through the Commons, was allowed by Ede to abstain. |
 | | The House was duly told of this change in the exercise of the prerogative of mercy in capital cases, and the judges were asked to forego the fl cap, the presence of the chaplain, and the "Lord have mercy on your soul," when a sentence of death was given. |
| www.historycooperative.org /journals/lhr/18.2/bailey.html (10046 words) |
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