24 OCTOBER 1992, Page 28

Oh yes?

Sir: Simon Heffer (Politics, 10 October) describes the lack of people with access to and influence with the Prime Minister.

This is nothing new. In my book A Taste of Hardship I analyse it, and ascribe it to

the fact that, in normal conditions, the Prime Minister is all-powerful over his col- leagues. He appoints his ministers and can pick them off at will: there is no shortage of replacements.

Only when the Prime Minister himself comes unstuck can he be removed by a united Cabinet, as happened to Sir Antho- ny Eden when he went mad after Suez and was 'persuaded' to rest in the Caribbean and, on his return, to resign.

Such a fate is unlikely to overtake Mr Major.

Francis Noel-Baker

5 Cresswell Gardens, London SW5