# Balsquith — Short Plays character guide

> Balsquith in Short Plays by George Bernard Shaw.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Dead, Balsquith, Balsquith Relieved, Balsquith Dead

**First appearance:** 0027-press-cuttings

## Snapshot

A flustered politician who arrives at Mitchener's in borrowed clothes, Balsquith argues, hedges, and discovers that even a Cabinet can be out-talked by a general with a taste for shooting suffragettes.

## Who they are

He belongs to the harried government of Press Cuttings, dodging tapped telephones and martial law while trying to explain why Sandstone has resigned and why the cordon strategy has collapsed. His running argument with Mitchener exposes the gap between civilian squeamishness and military ruthlessness, with Balsquith stammering about public opinion while the general coolly proposes rifle fire. He matters because his wavering conscience is the play's comic barometer, measuring how far respectable politics will bend before it breaks.

## Links

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