Wilson's quality
Sir: It is refreshing, at long last, to read a fairly objective assessment of the Prime Minister's immensely notable qualities in Patrick Cosgrave's article about him At last I am not put in the position, as used regularly to be the case, of feeling I must defend Mr Wilson from the long sustained 'personalised' attacks made on him during the period of the last Labour Government both in your own Journal and in other ostensibly reputable media. He had other occasional defenders in your columns, of course. among them Mr Enoch Powell who stated that on the Common Market issue the then Opposition leader 'spoke for Britain'.
I have, as I hope your readers recognise, never been a stooge, protege or even a close political associate of the Premier. It is because of this, perhaps, that I feel I can expect my judgment about him to be more widely acceptable than might otherwise be the case. That judgment, which has been stated by me in letters you published some years ago, is that Mr Harold Wilson is the most honourable, most competent and pragmatic peace-time Prime Minister of this century. Of course, like the rest of us, he has his faults. If! was asked to name one of these it would be that I think he is sometimes over kind to those who do not deserve it, and over tolerant of fools and knaves. He has at present, however, got around him in the Cabinet he leads more brains and ability than has ever been the case in my lifetime in any other Government.
The electors, I think, are increasingly aware of the facts I have stated. Like me they look on the Liberals as political 'streakers': here today and mostly gone tomorrow to their natural Labour or Tory habitats.
Last week, on a Manchester to London train, I was talking with some people I have never met before who said they had voted Tory at the last election "as was our custom". Without disclosing my own political affiliation I had them quite soon stating they would vote Labour next time, principally because of Mr Wilson. They said he understood 'the man in the street', he could communicate with him, and like most northerners, as they were themselves, he was a recognisably down-to-earth sort of person without any pretensions. I began at this point to wish that Bernard Levin had been in the carriage with us!
My fellow travellers were highly critical of Mr Heath and most of his colleagues. When asked why, the reply was that he always seemed affected and claimed to be always right, while others in his team were nonentities. It seemed odd, too, that his pronunciation of our language offended them. 'Out' should not be sboken as if it were spelt 'eout' they said any more than should 'solve' and 'involve' feature as 'sulve' and invulve'.
These people, like myself as another northerner, fit into the pattern of being looked on as barbarians when our accent is in fact more like the original 'lingo' spoken by our Anglo-Saxon forbears, by those in the south and south east who think that only the inhabitants of those largely lazy non-productive parts of our country speak the so-called Queen's English. Mr Heath and his enunication of out-dated political doctrine will have to go if the judgment of our fellow travellers is anything to go by, and if the Tories are to save themselves from a crushing defeat when the election comes.
T. C. Skeffington-Lodge 5 Powis Grove, Brighton
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