Sir: Patrick Cosgrave is perfectly correct to dismiss the renegotiation
as a charade, and I say this as a pro-Marketeer. To state, however, that Conservative anti-Marketeers may have put "a little too much trust" in Labour's 'antis' is surely the understatement of the year, Mr Powell's 'Vote Labour' advice in February (and October) played directly into Mr Wilson's hands• and made possible his not-exactlysubtle ploy to foil his left wing.
What stuns me, as regards Mr Powell's supporters, is their total lack of perspective. On the altar of their fanaticism and dogma they are prepared, it seems, to sacrifice Mrs Thatcher, the leader nearest to their interpretation of Conservatism, now that their saviour has burned his boats. Many I have talked to speak of ditching Mrs Thatcher at the nearest possible opportunity.
I consider Patrick Cosgrave's attack on Mr Powell to have been exactly on-target, and all the more effective because of Mr Cosgrave's closeness to Enoch on the political spectrum, especially as far as the EEC is concerned.
When the referendum has finally settled that issue (and Mr Powell, perhaps with a hint of defeatism, has suggested that if 'Yes' is the answer, then the issue is by no means closed — what about the reverse, for God's sake?), 1 sincerely hope that all Conservatives will apply themselves to the task of uniting behind Mrs Thatcher. Those on the left have already, by and large, committed themselves to that task. If Mr Powell's supporters fail to do so, then they will justifiably provoke charges not so much of disloyalty but of wrecking fanaticism.
Ca/von R. Paton Junior Common Room, Hertford College, Oxford
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