SIR,—All kinds of reasons have been given for Orpington.' Your
suggestion that it represents a breakaway of the extreme 'right,' including the floggers, the anti-Semites, the anti-blacks, the anti- Europeans, is a new one. Your fear th4t this out- look, expressed through an expanding Liberal Party, Is going to become a most unwelcome intrusion in
our politics, is not o new; it is quite unrealistic. You are not unawarenl y of the extent to which the success of a political party depends upon the enthu- siasm and dedication of the rank and file workers (this applies especially to the Liberal Party, because these workers have not only to do the work, they have also to raise nearly all the money). Those who hold the outlook that so disturbs you (and us) will not only be unwilling to work for the Liberal Party; they will also be unwelcome.
You have probably, inadvertently, yourself stated
the real reason for Orpington when you say, 'It [the Liberal Party, or, as you iiissety to call it, the all-purpose machine] could be more than a tempor- ary nuisance to our political life, and to the two- party dialectic which sustains it in moderate health.. . .' It is the very moderate health of our political life which has for long been troubling the Liberal Party. The mood of the country is to reject this moderate health, and to seek good health through the Liberal Party.
GEOFFREY ACLAND (Prospective Liberal Candidate, Westmorland) Hundhoiv, Burneside, Nr. Kendal, Westmorland
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