14 AUGUST 1971, Page 22

No mistake

Sir: In your Notebook yotl assert that you fear (and know) that the publication in our columns of a recent article bY Andrew Alexander "was regarded in the highest Telegraph circles as a dreadful mistake."

It certainly was not so regarded by Lord Hartwell, the Editor-inChief, or by me, or by anyone else known to me. It certainlY

would not have been so regarded by the Editor, who commissioned the article and is now on holiday. What other circles have you in mind? Or is the " dreadful mistake" your own?

Colin Welch

The Daily Telegraph, London EC4

am very glad to learn that neither Lord Hartwell nor Mr Welch regarded Mr Alexander's article, in which he described the EEC White Paper's passage on sovereignity as "a plain lie, as a dreadful mistake. — Editor, The Spectator.