31 JULY 1999, Page 25

Master of manners

From Mr William Shawcross Sir: Paul Johnson speaks kindly and rightly of my father's great courtesy (And another thing, 10 July). But he makes a small mis- take in quoting him as saying, as Attorney- General, early in the Attlee government, 'We are the masters now.'

My father actually said something slightly different. Quoting Humpty-Dumpty in Through the Looking-Glass on who controls the meaning of words, he said, 'We are the masters at the moment.' This, I am sure Paul Johnson would agree, was more cour- teous — as well as less threatening. Nonetheless, my father always regretted making what he saw as a gaffe.

William Shawcross

Hotel Tresanton, St Mawes, Cornwall