The good men
Sir, It is surprising that two at least of your readers should object so strongly to Mr Bevins's article on Mr Heath; this may not, as one commentator on the BBC remarked, have added greatly to the political debate, but it certainly gave vent to the feelings of many more beside the writer. Mr Heath may be the Prime Mlinister of Great Britain as the result of the normal democratic processes but he is neither permanently in that office nor above criticism.
Mr Heath was after all voted into office in 1970 because he undertook to fight inflation, and indeed to cut prices " at a stroke ". Public opinion has waited two and a half years for him to begin to attempt to implement this promise, and is rewarded by being told that it is strongly behind the Prime Minister. Clearly Mr Heath is one of those horse; which like to push their carts before them — backwards for preference.
Mr Heath undertook not to take England into the Common Market without the whole-hearted consent and support of the British people. This did not prevent him from refusing a referendum on the grounds that this was not provided for in the Constitution, and then decreeing a referendum for Northern Ireland on the Border issue, thereby underlining the fact that the referendum proposal was rejected simply from fear of the result.
Some of Mr Heath's other achievements include confrontation with those unions which have seldom if ever gone on strike before, and less than a year after bringing the nation to within fortyeight hours of a total industrial shut-down he now appears hellbent on a repetition of this remarkable performance, and this is in the name of a policy which he swore repeatedly and solemnly never to adopt. A proper respect for the Constitution and true observance of the normal democratic processes might entitle one to expect that, faced with such a reversal, the Prime Minister would resign. But not Mr Heath.
It is little wonder therefore if any future undertaking, promise or pledge by Mr Heath can be regarded either as a tactical manoeuvre or simply a plain indication that he does not know what he will do next, but hardly as a serious statement of intention.
P. Martin-Smith 33 Lennox Gardens, London SW1.
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