A man for all parties
From Mira Bar-Hillel
Sir: Before saying that I agree with every word in Roger Scruton’s article about Quinlan Terry and his Modernist enemies (‘Hail Quinlan Terry’, 8 April), I must declare an interest: Richard Rogers has twice sued me for defamation, once when I suggested in the London Evening Standard that he had said rude things about Prince Charles and again following a letter published in the Architects’ Journal. So I must be extra careful.
Perhaps it would be safest to quote what Quinlan Terry said to me when I interviewed him after John Prescott very sensibly decided not to follow Lord Rogers’s advice (in a private email) to call in Terry’s classical designs for the classical Royal Hospital on the grounds that they were, Rogers alleged, ‘architectural plagiarism’. Gentleman that he is, Quinlan Terry merely said, ‘I am glad that the government has accepted it would have been wrong to step in just because Richard Rogers doesn’t like me.’ I must, however, remind my old friend Roger Scruton that while Rogers may indeed be ‘the darling of New Labour’, supporting Tony Blair — who rewarded him by approving the Millennium Dome and vetoing its demolition, at great cost to the taxpayer — he has taken care to keep other options open. He is architectural guru to Ken Livingstone and heads Prescott’s Urban Task Force as well, but we should not forget who, in 1995, gave the green light to his huge Montevetro wedge (known locally as Monstervetro) which looms over the Grade I-listed St Mary’s Church in Battersea. It was none other than John Gummer, the former Tory environment secretary recently recycled by David Cameron to oversee Conservative policies on ‘quality of life’.
No wonder Lord Rogers recently told the Architects’ Journal: ‘I don’t believe in belonging to a single party.’ This may come as a surprise to the Labour whips in the Upper House, but not to followers of this Man for All Parties.
Mira Bar-Hillel London SW19
From Jane Manley
Sir: Many, many congratulations to Roger Scruton on his brilliant article on Quinlan Terry. I have long thought that the world would be a better place if Le Corbusier had never existed. The same could be said about Schönberg, Marcel Duchamp and possibly even Picasso.
Jane Manley London SW6
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