4 DECEMBER 1999, Page 38

If you lie, you're a liar

From The Rt Hon. the Lord Tebbit Sir: Bruce Anderson (Politics, 27 Novem- ber) rightly sets out some of the numerous examples of Mr Blair's untruths and false- hoods in his spoken and written words on Ulster. Curiously, he then says, 'This does not mean that he [Blair] is a liar.'

Then what does it mean? If telling lies does not make a man a liar, what does? Mr Anderson's explanation that 'Mr Blair's use of language is far more about convenience than reality' might equally well be used to excuse Lord Archer's misdemeanours.

It does, however, remind us that both men have a history of inventing incidents in their earlier lives and claiming to have been in one place when, in fact, they were at another. Tebbit

House of Lords, London SW1