Sir: That your often wrong, but generally fair- minded, views
should have changed in character just at Christmas time (22 December) is a phenomenon I find most distasteful. Good will and charity are indeed remote from all you say about the Prime Minister, and for the SPECTATOR to in- dulge in such blatant and scurrilous abuse linked with the half-truths, hearsay and gossip which one normally finds only in the columns of the gutter press, comes as a shock. If confidence depends on the Government betraying its principles by selling arms to South Africa—which you appear to favour —you either misunderstood the real meaning of the word, or 'the truth is not in you.'
Mr Wilson was right at the time when he said Britain's economy was turning the corner—as, in fact, it is. He was right at the time when he stated there would be no devaluation. He was right each time he stressed, as he has often done, that the near future would be difficult. He was right when the Government took unpopular measures for the country's ultimate benefit. He will be right once more when he asks for a further temporary suspen- sion of some of the fast-growing material prosperity we all enjoy compared with most of the rest of the world. You must know that such factors as the Middle East war,. the ensuing closure of the Suez Canal, the dock strike, and other often over-publi- cised labour troubles in a country comparatively strike-free and less heavily taxed than many others, were largely responsible for dictating a change of course. This change and the policies flowing from it in no way disprove the validity and accuracy of the Prime Minister's assessment of all and every facet of the situation at the time each was made.
I and many other onlookers at home and abroad regard Mr Wilson as probably the most competent peace-time Premier of this century—courageous, clear-headed, kind and fact-facing. His detractord, I predict, will one day hang their heads in shame for the evil misjudgment and miscalculation in which they continually indulge in lieu of the con- structive criticism he and his colleagues welcome.
The crisis to which we should all be addressing ourselves is how to arrange our own affairs in a world where two thirds of its people are starving so as to enable Britain to play a worthy.part in raising living standards in those areas affected. By and large I believe the Government's policies will ultimately help towards this end. To the extent that they do this they will prevent a world cata- clysm by cleansing humanity of the evils of hate, intolerance and racialism.
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