Letters to the Editor
The Archbishop and Politics Rev. H. R. Wilson Made in Russia M. Stirling Driberg in Moscow Tom Driberg Sell-Out Christ Church Tory Blue Hares Ralph Chislert `Snurge' C. E. Stone Arab and Jew Douglas F. Tunbridge Deification and Clarification Joan Brockelsbv
THE ARCHBISHOP AND POLITICS SIR,—it is disconcerting to find a writer of the status of Pharos descending to such cheap clap-trap about the Archbishop of Canterbury as he does in the first paragraph of 'A Spectator's Notebook' (September 21).
As long as the Archbishop is a member of the House of Lords (and not merely a heredi- tary member) he has presumably the same right as any other Member of Parliament to speak and write about the problems which come before that House and to suggest ways in which they may be solved.
As for his being 'taken aback' if the Chairman of the Conservative Party were 'to produce a formula' about any matter con- cerning the Church, I imagine that His Grace, like the rest of the clergy, is so accustomed to receive ex cathedra advice from people of any or no religious allegiance that its absence is more likely to cause him surprise. What, after all, happened in 1927 and 1928?
But to obtain a true parallel we must postu- late that the Chairman has been sufficiently interested in Church affairs to secure election to the House of Laity; in which event I have little doubt but that he would give the Church Assembly the benefit of all his experience in dealing with any problems that might be brought before it. And I cannot imagine any member of the clergy writing anonymous articles to suggest that he was wrong to do so.—Yours faithfully,
H. R. WILSON
Hooton Pagnell Vicarage, Doncaster
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