The Best Speakers?
SH1,—I am intrigued by your political commentator's assessment of the six best speakers in the Com- mons and I am naturally gratified to see you your- self so well up on the rails. But what is his criterion for best? It must surely be something more than the knack of tickling the ear or hitting the head- lines. Is it the ability to argue cogently without sending the House to sleep or even to bring members in from the Smoking Room when one's name comes up on the ticker?
I suggest that the best speaker is the one who can best influence debate and even convert a vote. I am away from my books, but I can think of Halifax on Indian independence, Jowitt on National Insurance and Archie Boyd-Carpenter on the Prayer Book. You can doubtless think of many more. But all three of these are dead and two were in the Lords.
What, incidentally, of the Lords, where debate is often of a high standard, though not quite as high as their Lordships would have us believe. I suggest the present Lord Chancellor, Lady Wootton, Lords Carrington, Mancroft, Soper and Robbins, none of whom was ever in the Commons.
I look forward to your promised list of the six worst speakers and I should be happy to help if I may have a word with the Spectator's lawyers beforehand. 1 am not an expert on 'the law of libel. PETER WYNDHAM Stone Building, Lincoln's Inn, London, WC2.
[The list of the 'best' speakers in the House of Commons did not reflect Alan Watkins's own opinions: as he stated, it was the result of inviting six leading correspondents in the press gallery to name their choices.—Editor, Spectator.]
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