Letters to the Editor
The liberals' Chances Randolph S. Churchill The Aldermaston March Philip Toynbee Jokes are Dangerous Kenneth Stern Chance of a Lifetime Robin Marris Converted Vans and Purchase Tax Hunt Public Opinion Polls William Gregory
Cavalier Treatment E. Wingfield-Stratford
Sudanese Education Edwin Kelly
THE LIBERALS' CHANCES
SIR,—Pharos in your issue of April 11 says: 1. . . Mr. Randolph Churchill has endorsed an elaborate plan (Mr. Edward Martell's) to give the Liberals a free run. . . In my article in the Evening Standard of April 2 I did no such thing. I had not heard of Mr. Martell's plan, and the views I expressed were entirely my own and self- if ill-conceived.
You conclude your comment on this topic with the assertion that the Liberals might win marginal Tory seats, 'but on present form they would have no chance at all of winning marginal Labour scats.' Surely this assertion requires a little argument to support it? A Liberal candidate fighting a Socialist marginal seat and unopposed by a Tory candidate, even though not endorsed by the local Tory Associa- tion, might well expect to collect half or three- quarters of the Tory vote, particularly if he were to concentrate his criticism on Socialism rather than upon Conservatism. Without any haggling over policy this would be his natural interest and instinct if he were seriously anxious to be elected. And if he could collect half the Tory vote in a Socialist marginal seat he would be home and dry. But some Liberals prefer to be out in the wet.—Yours faithfully, Stour, East Bergh°It, Suffolk
RANDOLPH S. CHURCHILL
[This letter is referred to in 'A Spectator's Note- book:—Editor, Spectator.]
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