Neglected gnome
Sir: Paul Johnson's snobbish attacks on John Major (And another thing, 6 January) may be explained by referring to Major Major, the memoirs of the Prime Minister's elder brother, Terry.
`I believe that in his days as editor of the New Statesman a generation ago in the 1960s he [Mr Johnson] used to hobnob with Harold Wilson in Downing Street, and lat- terly as a right-wing columnist he had the ear of Lady Thatcher at No 10,' wrote Terry Major-Ball.
`It must be terribly frustrating for Mr Johnson that time has moved on, so that we now have a Prime Minister who doesn't lis- ten to him any more. After a lifetime of vacillation he must feel all washed up, rather as I did when the garden ornaments business collapsed.'
Harold Wilson, Margaret Thatcher and now Tony Blair have been described by Paul Johnson as able and open-minded because they listen to him. John Major is two-dimensional because he doesn't. One can understand Mr Johnson being upset by this. In some quarters it may win votes for the Prime Minister.
James Hughes-Onslow
42 Knatchbull Road, Camberwell, London, SE5
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