this MacDonald called Hastings into his office and suggested a way to solve the problem. Hastings would accept all the blame and resign as Attorney General, and in exchange MacDonald and the rest of the cabinet would speak for Hastings at the resulting by-election. Hastings refused the general suggestion, but planned to make a speech at the upcoming debate explaining his actions. Immediately after the debate began the Prime Minister rose to speak, and said that he "sought to correct the impression [I] gave" that he knew nothing about the prosecution. This was followed by a motion of censure pushed forward by Robert Horne, and after Horne had presented the motion Hastings rose to speak, and explained the facts of the case. His speech took over an hour, and was frequently interrupted by Conservative MPs. In his speech, Hastings took full responsibility for both the decision to prosecute and the subsequent decision to withdraw the prosecution, asking whether a censure was merited for correcting a mistake. His speech quieted the Conservatives and made it clear that a censure for the entire Parliament was going to be difficult for the Whips to enforce. The Liberal spokesman John Simon stood to speak, however, and called for the appointment of a Select Committee to investigate the case. This was rejected by MacDonald, and MPs continued to speak for several more hours. The Conservative leader Stanley Baldwin privately wrote to MacDonald offering to withdraw the motion of censure in exchange for the government's support for the appointment of a Select Committee. MacDonald consulted with Jimmy Thomas and Hastings (whose reply was simply "Go to hell") and decided to reject the offer. Although the motion of censure failed, the motion to appoint a Select Committee passed the House over the opposition of the government, and the Labour government was forced out of office. Hastings was embittered by the disaster, and considered immediately quitting politics altogether, although he did not do so. His plight was depicted on the cover of Time Magazine, along with a quotation ("What have I done wrong?") from his speech. Remaining time in politics Hastings was again returned for Wallsend at the ensuing election, despite the crisis caused by the Zinoviev letter, although with a reduced majority. Although Hastings remained on the Labour frontbench he rarely spoke in the House of Commons, and attended less and less frequently. After suffering from kidney