Market matters
Sir: In the Spectator I find Mr M. I. Becket falling upon me, with what Malory would have called great random, for a parenthesis about Mrs Thatcher's sincerity. I honestly can't Understand his indignation. On the one hand I have never said or implied that insincerity is ever good. (But I do think politicians must be astute as well as sincere.) On the other Mr Becket is not contending that Mrs Thatcher's support for 'Europe' is sincere. When I said nobody thought so I had in mind that she has never made much impression on the public on any foreign affairs question. She was a goodish, education minister and is very sensible about financial matters,. but foreign policy just doesn't seem to he close to her heart. As leader of the opposition she must yet comment on 'Europe'. And instead of being as sincerely non-committal as Possible Mrs Thatcher is now going about presenting British commitment to 'Europe' as the natural conservative policy, in contrast with the wild gamble of national self-reliance. That I do find both surprising and alarming. If she is applying the conservative principle 'When it is not necessary to change it is necessary not to change' how can she use it against a nation with a successful and unbroken life for over a thousand years, and in favour of a non-nation younger than most of the voters in the referendum?
how without betraying an alarming unreality? For isn't it alarming that the leader of the so-called Conservative Party doesn't know she must begin by conserving her country? My complaints are about the shallowness both of Mrs Thatcher's and Mr Wilson's government's sense of what the United Kingdom is. They would show both intelligence and sincerity if they developed that sense, and I certainly hope the electorate is going to give them a sharp reminder of first principles. But why should that prevent me from observing the strategy and tactics of the situation? — that a YES would perhaps save Mr Wilson's bacon for a month or two and that it would also do lasting damage to the Conservatives in confirming the general suspicion that they are lost and don't know what ,is real. For how can we show lack of confidence in all three deadbeat party establishments by doing exactly what they tell us? Answer: by voting YES, in the illusory hope of being rescued by 'Europe' from all three parties. Myself, still having some hope for this country and for Europe, I shall vote NO.
tan Robinson 130 Bryn Road, Brynmitl, Swansea
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