16 NOVEMBER 1974, Page 4

Tory policies

From Lieut Commander Pau'ley

Sir: The actions and utterances of leading Conservatives since the Election, and the copious outpourings of grass-roots opinion in the columns of The Spectator (and elsewhere), leave no doubt in my mind that the Tories have lost all sense of purpose and can agree about nothing, save to disagree. Talk of revising the policies of a party is meaningless when that party has ceased to exist as a political unit. The sombre truth is that the once great Conservative Party has disintegrated and is now but a hulk, rotting from within and adrift on a hostile political sea.

This is not just a party political matter. The situation is one of great peril to our country because, unless the British people can choose an alternative to socialism, whenever they so wish, they will no longer be free and masters of their destiny. If our parliamentary democracy is to survive, the Conservative Party must be born anew. The task will be prodigious; far more formidable than in 1945. Leadership will be called for of an order which would have daunted even Winston Churchill. Will the hour find the man?

Noel Paulley Corfu, Cardiff Road, Creigiau, Cardiff.