Sir: Mr Enoch Powell's article questioning ortho- dox British thinking
on the nuclear deterrent is to be warmly welcomed. It follows logically, of course, from his equally welcome questioning of Britain's extra-European defence commitments in his speech to the Conservative party conference at Brighton in 1965.
I hope, however, that the matter will not be allowed to rest there. As you say in your edi- torial, a number of important and valid conclu- sions stem from the article, as they did from the Brighton speech. Yet can it really be said that the Brighton speech has had any discernible impact on official Conservative defence policy? It is hard to see any sign of it. The grey waters of tradi- tional 'independent world power' thinking, so beloved by members of both front benches, seem to have closed over it, leaving precious little trace.
If Mr Powell's latest thoughts are not to suffer the same fate, they, and the consequences which flow from them, will therefore need to be pressed with the greatest possible persistence. I see no other way of challenging the absurd and damaging assumptions on which the Wilson-Healey view of Britain's role in the world is founded.
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