10 MAY 1963, Page 12

Sta, —` Men of ability ought to run our democrn,c51 for us,

and provided they do it honestly and ele: ciently, it matters not a fig what their private live", may be.' Thus Constantine FitzGibbon summing 0,1' his argument in 'Politics and Sex' (Spectator, Ma_Y But this simply will not do. The fact that rivi Gibbon has to cloak his illustrations is a refutation of his thesis. The men of ability would soon den10,.°: strate in the law courts that they, as well as ta" general public, place some value upon their private'

as well as their public, reputations. , is

The fact that FitzGibbon identifies 'The Goat .1„ possible because the whole pitiful story has reces been publicly told—but, as FitzGibbon admits, weakness of "The Goat" was not then given publielYT0 in the press.' If, during his lifetime, half the patheti.. story had been known by the general public b.! admirers and followers would have deserted hill1 their thousands.

The truth is that the great mass of people exped and like to believe they are getting—character ne integrity in their leaders, and they are dismayed att, cV shocked when they find that sometimes they are ni I.; FitzGibbon's thesis will not do. If it were true, the

THE SPECTATOR, MAY 10, 1963 a terrible injustice has been done to ex-King Edward VIII, the ex-Rector of Stiffkey, Mr. I. H. Thomas and Horatio Bottomley—to take at random four men of ability' from different walks of public life.

3. L. HOOPER 26 The Highlands, Bexhill-on-Sea. Sussex