Conservative Members
Sir: I am astonished that Sir Peter Kirk (of whom I have known relatively little but respected what I knew) should refer to my own MP, Sir Derek Walker-Smith, in such effusive terms (21 August).
As a Conservative who has lived in Sir Derek's East Hertfordshire constituency for 14 years, I am irritated and embarrassed that one of the safest Conservative seats should be held by a man who, far from 'passionate and effective' seems never to have had an original political idea in his head and is a pedantic old bore (never using one word when twenty will do) to boot.
Plainly, the gap between Parliament and people can be as wide as some pundits claim. My view of all too many Conservative members is (to misquote that splendid Conservative, the Duke of Wellington) 'I don't know what effect they have in Parliament, but by God they frighten me.' Roland Fernsby
The Lane House, Patmore Heath, Albury, Ware, Hertfordshire
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