30 SEPTEMBER 2000, Page 33

Man about town

From Mr Martin Russell Sir: I was amused to read in Michael Vestey's column (Arts, 23 September) that, in a radio interview with Susannah Simon, Mr Hesel- tine had attributed to Lady Thatcher 'a sort of lower-middle-class bigotry'.

Some years ago, when I was dining at Buck's with the late Monsignor Gilbey, I told him of the supposed relationship, through Harry Cust, between Lady Diana Cooper and Mrs Thatcher, as she then was.

Monsignor Gilbey remarked, 'Yes, Mrs Thatcher is definitely aristocratic.' It was probably this that unnerved Michael Hes- eltine.

Martin Russell

Blandford Forum, Dorset