Spectator, no!
Sir: I write to protest most vehemently about your leading article in The Spectator (February 19). At a time like this, when the Prime Minister and the Government are making the first effort of any previous administration (Tory as well as Labour) to try to assert the authority of
a properly elected Parliament over the trade unions — largely bedevilled by left wing officials — all you can do to help is to produce this sort of gutter journalese — Mr Heath may not be your favourite man, but he has patriotism, guts, and honesty — yes, honestly — and he deserves the support of all people who care about their country. I read your article twice, and still can't quite believe it — you have practically out-Wilsoned Wilson, and that is saying something.
And while we are having a row, I would make three more points.
1. If anybody voted for Mr Heath in 1970, without knowing full well that he and the Tory Party had every intention of going into Europe if at all possible then they should be dis-enfranchised for political naivete.
2. I don't understand all the implications about joining the EEC, but two people whose opinions I respect — namely Lord Nugent of Guildford, and Mr Bernard Weather ill, MP for Croydon NE, do approve and have always approved entry, and that is enough for me.
3. Three times in the last few weeks I have passed on your paper to people who used to read it in the old days, and jumped at the chance of reading it again. Three times it has come back, with sad, but polite notes, to say that they really don't know that they can read "this sort of thing now," "how it has changed," etc.
I merely hang on firmly, hoping that the clouds will one day roll away, or the Editor will be changed, or something. I am, Sir, your not at all obedient servant.
Mary Du Pre Finch The Little House, Wootton Rivers, Marlborough, Wiltshire.
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