6 OCTOBER 1967, Page 27

Mr Thorpe's pilgrim band Sir: It is kind of Alan

Watkins to describe New Outlook as an 'excellent magazine'; but he shows political cynicism by dismissing as a 'non-sequitur' my optimism about Jeremy Thorpe's future because he has put Michael Fogarty and Christopher Lay- ton in charge of Liberal policy formation.

I may be naive; but I feel the success or failure of the Liberal party depends on producing a clear- cut convincing policy for the management of the economy and the future of the social and welfare services. Fogarty and Layton are experts in these fields. They are intellectuals of higher calibre than the politicians responsible for policy formation in the Labour and Conservative parties.

Jeremy Thorpe has got his priorities right by insisting on a Liberal alternative to the Tory- viLabour consensus on home policy. If Alan Wat- kins finds my remarks a 'non-sequitur he must think Jeremy Thorpe's future hinges on a per- sonality cult and the creation of a party image by the usual gimmicks of political publicity Editor, New Outlook, 4 Moorfields, London EC2