6 DECEMBER 1997, Page 35

Satirical citation

Sir: I must congratulate you on the unher- alded irony of your decision to name Gor- don Brown as Parliamentarian of the Year.

It can only be a gesture of sarcasm to give this award to a man who was publicly rebuked by the Speaker of the House of Commons within days of taking office for announcing a major policy change — oper- ational independence of the Bank of Eng- land — without first informing Parliament.

To have singled out for particular praise the Chancellor's handling of the single- currency issue, as you did in the award cita- tion, is high satire indeed. It is only a mat- ter of weeks since the briefing and counter- briefing on this subject by the Chancellor's advisers fuelled such damaging speculation in the markets that Mr Brown was forced to the dispatch box to tell Parliament which of the contradictory briefings he had autho- rised was correct. The Speaker followed your award by describing her efforts to ensure that the Chancellor makes policy announcements to Parliament rather than leaving MPs to read about them in the newspapers as a 'war'.

Andrew Cooper

Conservative Central Office, 32 Smith Square, London SW1