16 OCTOBER 2004, Page 40

Pamphleteer's protest

From Dr Paul Robinson Sir: I was surprised to read Ruth Lea's new explanation (Letters, 9 October) of the Centre for Policy Studies' decision not to publish the pamphlet on defence policy which it asked me to write, particularly since the only explanation she has deigned to give me is that 'it has nothing to do with the quality of the research'. Ms Lea now claims that the contents of my pamphlet did not conform to the agreed outline and this was the reason why the CPS would not publish it. I would be happy to send anybody copies of both outline and pamphlet, and challenge them to find any differences. In any case, Tim Knox of the CPS informed me of the decision not to publish before I had even sent in a draft. At the time it made this decision, the CPS was not, therefore, in a position to determine whether the contents conformed to the outline, because nobody there had yet read a single word of it. Furthermore, Mr Knox specifically told me that the reason for the decision was that a member of the management board had vetoed the work on the basis of the outline alone. I stand by my version of events.

Paul Robinson

University of Hull, Humberside