Country life
Sir: When any phrase or saying leaps to prominence it is always instructive to look at its derivation and meaning. `Stalking horse' now features in all the papers, rather than in Goose Shooters' Annual where one might expect the occasional mention. The primary definition of a stalking horse is a real or artificial horse behind which a man with a gun may approach a flock of geese, secretly and unobserved.
Anybody who has stalked anything, even a rabbit, will realise that to hide behind a stalking horse, real or artificial, to approach your quarry, will not work if a crowd of your supporters are running around screaming, 'There's a man with a gun trying to kill you!' If the press are also running up to your quarry waving headlines saying, `Ignore him, it's really Heseltine who is try- ing to kill you!', you would be rash to believe your approach was unnoticed.
The repeated use of the phrase 'stalking horse' in the present leadership contest, makes it clear that the Conservative Party has lost all contact with its roots. The traditional breeding grounds of sound Conservatives are public school and county. Although this may not produce great and original minds, it at least teaches some rudimentary knowledge of the English language, a little classical history and a familiarity with the accepted techniques for killing off members of the animal kingdom for pleasure.
Simon Mulholland
24 John Street, Brightlingsea, Essex
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