Moore or less liberal
From Mr John Maples, MP Sir: How fascinating to read Charles Moore's Diary (20 October), and particularly the selfcongratulatory tone of his tolerant and broadminded reaction to meeting a gay-radio entrepreneur at a partridge-shoot. How very modern of him to 'accommodate' (his word) such change so enthusiastically!
Is this the same Charles Moore who berated me both publicly in the Daily Telegraph and privately in correspondence when I was shadow defence secretary in 1999 for being insufficiently robust in opposing the government's plans to allow gays to serve in our armed forces?
It is comforting to know that the partridge-shooter is not as reactionary as the newspaper editor, though I rather wish it were the other way round.
John Maples
House of Commons, London SW1
From Mr Colin Sydenham Sir: If, as Charles Moore says, Lord Hailsham 'had the gift of perfect expression', how did he come to entitle one of his volumes of mem oirs The Door Wherein I Went? This phrase, apart from being a misquotation, is meaningless, as an Old Colleger (a Newcastle Scholar at that) might have been expected to notice.
Colin Sydenham
London EC4
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