6 SEPTEMBER 1963, Page 6

A Spectator's Notebook

‘NLy Christians and men of the world really Osympathised with Ward,' a Conservative ex-MP said to me the other day. Mr. Julian Symons lately charged me in these pages with a combativeness now directed only against the Left. In America, earlier this summer, I was noting (as a reminder to my rusty left hook) that there one finds a right-wing as well as a left-wing cant flourishing vigorously, whereas in Britain the right-wing variety has long been practically extinguished by endless exposure. So I thought!, But I came back to England at the height of the Profumo-Ward affair, with Hailsham and Haley in full swing. And now there's Archbishop Fisher---telling us to leave moral discussion to `experts': i.e., self-appointed ushers-for-adults. All the more honour, then, to Sir Edward Boyle for his dignified refusal to bow to these mob- moralists even at the current height of their lynching bee. Perhaps he may find that decency and good sense even pay off politically, for, if I don't mistake their feelings, the English are getting sick of the whole cowardly campaign.