4 JANUARY 1957, Page 31

CONSCIENCE AND CONSTITUENTS

SIR.—In my recent letter to your journal I attributed opinions to Mr. Nigel Nicolson. MI', which he does not in fact hold. As he is himself engaged in battle with his local party on the subject of Suez. it is most unlikely that he would be an advocate of the strict control of a Member by his constituency organisa- tion. Through an over-hasty reading of his original letter I came to the mistaken conclusion that this is what he was doing, and I would. like to apologise to him for my error, although, of course, the main part of my letter still represents my views on the dangers of close control of Members of Parliament by their local organisations.- --Yours faithfully.

O. A. SCNOEIELD Glen Eyre Hall, Bassett, Southampton