The Prime Minister
Sir: How patronising can you be? You condescend after your disgraceful Christmastide attack on him, following which (to your credit), you were courteous enough to publish a reply from me (Letters, 5 January), to say, `Mr Wilson is not in any sense of the word an evil man' (2 February). This seems a remarkable and long delayed admission from a Tory weekly which must have known for at least two years of the unscrupulous undermining opera- tion set on foot by Tory party headquarters with the object of discrediting the Premier and depict- ing him as evil. No doubt the Tory hierarchy realised, as they do now, that their only hope of winning the next election with no construc- tive alternatives to the Government's policies, and a leader who stands abysmally low in public esteem, was, and is, by hook or by crook, to besmirch the Prime Minister's reputation.
Not only has there been the whispering campaign I name, which, by your silence, you condoned, whose aim was to impugn Mr Wilson's private con- duct which you now say is 'above reproach' but a virtual edict went out from Tory Central Office to the effect that the Premier was never to be men- tioned except in the context of 'twister' and 'double- cross.' One has only to read a few speakers' notes and booklets emanating from Conservative head- quarters to prove the accuracy of this. A picture has thus been built up and propagated of 'the evil man' you now cannot find, but which you have up to now done your bit to present. in your columns. Mr Wilson has not failed, as you nsseft. Time will tell, and it may well be that flu eighteen
months his and his colleagues' steadfastness and political courage will pay off in Britain's at last breaking through to an economic prosperity denied her for the past twenty years—primarily because past Tory governments have drifted and neglec- ted what should have been tackled ages ago.
If, as you claim, you will `continue to present the truth as you see it' one can only hope you will stop standing it on its head, and recognise that to over-indulge your prejudices will tell in the long run against the political cause you espouse.
I know of no counter-campaign to defend the Prime Minister, which you describe as almost hysterical. A few public men, including the Lord Chancellor, have belatedly spoken out in much needed and strong terms. There is great danger in the over-personalisation of political issues, and it is deplorable to me that the SPECTATOR, with its long tradition of objectivity and fairminded- ness, should express its hostility to the Government in this way.
T. C. Skeflington-Lodge 5 Powis Grove, Brighton, Sussex
We know of no such whispering campaign. Per- haps Mr Skeffington-Lodge can enlighten us.— Editor, SPECTATOR.
Previous page
