BBC wrong-footed - Sir: Further to Simon Heifer's article (Politics,
19 May), it is not only Michael Heseltine who has been embarrassed by the much better than expected Conserva- tive election results. The BBC's On the Record programme (broadcast on 6 May) was completely wrong-footed.
Clearly anticipating huge Conservative losses, the programme-makers had pre- pared a range of techniques and devices to undermine Mrs Thatcher's leadership: the solitary MP willing to say publicly that she should resign; the protracted reconstruc- tion, using actors, of alleged comments by other backbenchers too spineless to voice their own opinions openly; the explana- tion, in exhaustive detail, of how a Con- servative leader might be forced out; the gimmicky portrayal of rival contenders as pieces on a giant chessboard; and the lining-up of Mr Heseltine — the 'Unde- clared Pretender' — as star guest for the following week's broadcast.
In the event, last-minute comments had clumsily to be inserted conceding that the local government election results have lessened any danger to Mrs Thatcher's position. These afterthoughts merely heightened the incongruity of what had nevertheless just been screened.
The manner in which supposedly impar- tial commentators set up a calculated assault on a party leader, and persisted in broadcasting it in the absence of expected electoral disaster, can only cause concern about future BBC coverage as the general election draws closer.
Norris McWhirter
The Freedom Association, 35 Westminster Bridge Road, London SE1
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