Tebbit and UKIP
From Mr Brian Lee Sir: It is difficult to work out the reason for the article by Norman Tebbit about UKIP and the security services ('UKIP: is there a hidden agenda?', 26 May). Was it supposed to scare the members of UKIP? Was it supposed to scare the nation, or was it just a circuitous way of persuading us all to vote Conservative?
And what about his claim that UKIP had a policy only to challenge Europhiles? I can state that there never was such a policy. UKIP exists to get Britain out of the EU. No Tories can be relied on to deliver that when their party policy is to stay in.
I hope Lord Tebbit didn't think he was being subtle. By the end of nearly two pages of his ramblings, I couldn't take any of it seriously. However, it is not often that UKIP gets so many mentions in one article, which then gets taken up by the national dailies. With enemies like Lord Tebbit, who needs friends?
Brian Lee
Chairman, Eastern Region, UK Independence party, Hadleigh, Essex
From Mr Philip Gretton Sir: Norman Tebbit believes that Jimmy Goldsmith got a poor return for his £20 million, winning only 800,000 votes for the Referendum party in 1997. I think Sir James would have been very happy to know that his efforts kept Britain out of the single currency for at least one parliament, and possibly for ever. His stand forced a reluctant John Major to promise a referendum before joining the euro. This in turn forced Tony Blair to match that promise. Whatever the future holds, we can be sure that Blair would already have taken us into the single currency but for the need to win a referendum.
However. I agree with Lord Tebbit that UKIP's stand in this election against Tory Eurosceptics only plays into the hands of the federalists.
Philip Gretton
Inkberrow,Worcestershire
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