12 OCTOBER 1956, Page 18

SECRET POLICE POWERS

SIR,—Whether the readers of your tradition' ally independent weekly gain any advantage when the 'Political Commentary' is regularlY written by someone so adhesively committed to HM present Government as Mr. Curran 15 a moot point. No doubt some do, otherwise your journal would not continue to flourish, as I am delighted to see that it does.

Since, however, you may wish to retain the loyalty of those of your readers who are not similarly committed, would it not be right 10 point out that you, as Editor, give Mr. Curran the unfettered right to suppress any facts found inconvenient?

Take his last week's report on the Labour Party Conference at Blackpool. You will recall that Mr. Benn Levy, the playwright and former MP, went there especially on behalf of the Campaign to Limit Secret Police Powers to move a motion in favour of setting up an independent tribunal to examine 'security-risk, cases. Of this fact, widely reported through the world, no mention by Mr. Curran, al- though you yourself, Sir, are a sponsor of the Campaign, which enjoys the support of at least one Conservative MP. Instead your readers are treated to the statement that Mr'

George Strauss, who made the most important speech against the motion, 'might have been preaching prohibition in Burton-on-Trent.' In point of fact, Mr. Strauss's contribution was so effective that, contrary to expectation, the unmentioned Mr. Henn Levy's motion was lost by nearly a million votes: a result that Mr. Curran also omits.—Yours faithfully,