29 APRIL 2000, Page 25

Luceing the plot

From Mr John Carlisle Sir: Stephen Glover (Media studies, 15 April) is right — `A lot of people got Mugabe wrong in 1980!

I recall a pre-Rhodesia election meeting of Conservative MPs at the Foreign Office. Richard Luce, the minister concerned, was asked the question 'What if Mugabe wins?' `That is not', he replied, 'a possibility we have even considered.'

John Carlisle

Henlow, Bedfordshire