Blair's benefactors
Sir: In praising Philip Gould (Books, 14 November), Maurice Saatchi elegantly lauds the role of the marketeer. What's sauce for the advertising goose is sauce for the marketing gander.
I'm all for that; I'm a bit of a huckster myself. Moreover, as a determined Labour supporter, the modernisers (including Philip Gould) stand second in my personal hall of gratitude only to Neil Kinnock, who took the brunt of the battle to make Labour electable.
But let's not forget that Labour's thanks to Philip are limited to those relatively few seats which mark the top end of the scale of the victory. The immolation of the Tories owed much more to Maurice's personal deity, Mrs Thatcher. She hung on too long, created if not a 'climate of corruption', then at least a corrupted climate and, finally, fumbled the baton pass.
As a result, despair after 18 years of Tory rule, lack of confidence in Major and not least 'the Fayed effect' in revealing Tory sleaze, all meant that, in May 1997, anyone marginally better dressed than Michael Foot would probably have been elected. Marketing had little to do with it, neither did the Tories' loss of their 'philosophical bearings', whatever they may be.
The nation spontaneously united in one ambition — to get the Tories out. We were fortunate that Blair and his team were there to benefit from the backlash, to max- imise the swing and to bring us effective government. If focus groups give them added confidence in their visionary policies, which owe nothing to tired Tory dogma, that's a small price to pay.
Brian Basham
14 Elsworthy Rise, London NW3
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