17 NOVEMBER 1990, Page 34

LETTERS Numbers game

Sir: There is a problem with the leadership election scenario sketched by Alan Wat- kins in his diary last week (10 November); he got one basic fact wrong. There are 372 Conservative MPs, not 371. Presumably, he has not counted Sir Paul Dean, a deputy Speaker, who is entitled to vote.

If Margaret Thatcher obtained 186 votes, Watkins's 'minimum number', she would not win the first round on 20 November. She needs at least 187, and a 56-vote majority, to meet the first-round requirements.

Anthony Bevins

The Independent, 40 City Road, London EC1