Labour record
Sir: Poor old Geoffrey Wheatcroft. 'Surprisingly', he claims (28 April), 'the last party to win an absolute majority of Scottish seats was the Conservatives in 1959.' Surprising it is; true it certainly ain't. The Tories did win one more seat in Scotland than the other parties put together in 1955, not '59. Since then, however, Labour has won a convincing absolute majority of Scottish seats at every general election, and will doubtless do so again this time. His comment about Judith Hart is also rather puzzling, since he implies that the Conservatives are only 698 votes behind her. Her majority over the Tories is actually 5,726; it is the Snips who are the real challengers in Lanark. One can only assume that Wheaters wrote his piece having already made a sizable dent in his supply of Banffshire plonk — in which case he has my profoundest sympathy.
Francis Wheen
78a Thornhill Road, Barnsbury Square, London Ni
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