A political animal
From Chris Patten Sir: Frank Johnson (Shared opinion, 20 March) comments on my principal reason for not wishing to be considered as a candidate for the chairmanship of the BBC — namely, a reluctance to take a vow of
'omerta' on leaving Brussels — focus on what he regards as a career of trouble avoidance. So be it, though I am not sure that Sir Percy Cradoek and various former editors of The Spectator have seen it that way.
But Mr Johnson is surely wrong in claiming that Lord Jenkins of Hillhead had spent years avoiding trouble. For example, he came back to Britain from being President of the European Commission and in his sixties founded a new political party, fought byelections and forced change on the Labour party. The urbane are not always herbivores.
I have no intention of following Lord Jenkins's example in every particular when I leave Brussels in October this year, but I do wish to exercise my human right to engage in the occasional political brawl.
Chris Patten
Brussels
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