For and against Clarke
From Darrell Goodliffe Sir: I am that rarest of breeds, a left-wing reader of your publication. To my mind a Conservative party under the stewardship of Kenneth Clarke represents potentially a very serious threat to the Labour government because Clarke is the only leadership candidate who speaks for the people on the subject of Iraq (Politics, 10 September).
Surely it is not that much of an exaggeration to say, ‘If the Prime Minister really believes it, he must be the only person left who thinks that the recent bombs in London had no connection at all with his policy in Iraq.’ I wonder whether, if Mr Clarke does win the leadership, we will see the Right in Britain ideologically distancing itself from American policy.
Darrell Goodliffe
Glasgow
From Peter Davey Sir: At present, Germany has some five million unemployed, and the Italians are busily debating the possibility of their leaving the euro, because of the damage it has inflicted on their economy. If it had been up to Mr Clarke, we could be suffering very similar economic ‘advantages’ at this very moment.
The fact that the side-effects of the euro have now become so overwhelming as to finally persuade Mr Clarke to go so far as to be willing to delay British entry for some years says quite a lot about his judgment none of it encouraging. Mr Clarke’s supposed change of heart concerning British support of the euro reminds me of the old saying, ‘A man convinced against his will is of the same opinion still.’ Peter Davey Bournemouth, Dorset
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