Sir: While your suggestion (15 November) fat replacing the House
of Lords by a senate and making the House of Commons the electoral college responsible for electing senators Will undoubtedly prevent excessive power being vested in the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition, it will merely transfer the right to dispense patronage—for patronage it will be—from the party leaders to the profes- sional politician in general. Paradoxically, the House of Lords with all its imperfections is seen by many people as the last surviving bastion of individual freedom in
this country. It is important that the Govern- ment's proposals be exposed for what they really are: another clever stratagem designed by Mr Wilson to entrench his own position, at the same time camouflaging the shortcomings of his catastrophic administration. By launching this new crusade—Mr Wilson and People versus the House of Lords—Mr Wilson hopes to win the next general election. The true battle lies between Lords and People versus Mr Wil- son and followers.
It will be utter folly to place yet more power into the hands of professional politicians who have already wrought such havoc on this poor country of ours. The hereditary element in the Lords produces fools as well as geniuses; but at least it also produces a fair number of people who are in no way politically committed. This cannot be said of the Commons. We may rue the day such people are sacrificed on the altar of 'purposive government.'
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