Sut, — As a keen admirer of much of what Mr. Henry
Fairlie, writes about politics, I have sometimes thought that his bonnet concealed a whole beehive of nonsense about what he terms 'the Establishment. In your issue of September 23 these idiotic bees swarmed and landed on the unoffending and singularly in- appropriate head of Lady Violet Bonham Carter.
I had thought of writing to protest, but restrained myself in the sure conviction that Lady Violet would defend herself. This she has done in a most effective way. What prompts me to write this week is that Mr. Fairlie, instead of withdrawing the monstrous charge he brought against Lady Violet, has preferred to obfuscate the issue by asking one of the most ludicrous questions ever pro- pounded since the stranger accosted the Duke of Wellington at Hyde Park Corner with the words, 'Mr. Smith, I believe?' Mr. Fairlie wrote: 'Is she quite sure that it was not due to any intervention on her part that the attitude of the Daily Express became a matter, not just of editorial concern, but of managerial and perhaps even proprietorial concern?' (My italics.) So now it is clearly revealed how 'the Estab- lishment' works. It is by a 'subtle and powerful pressure' exerted by Lady Violet on the 'right• people' like Lord Beaverbrook. Lord- Beaver- brook is a man who does not easily respond to pressure, whether it be applied subtly or powerfully. And as I understand that Lady Violet and Lord Beaverbrook have never corresponded or met except across the table at the meetings of the Royale Commission on the Press, it seems unlikely in the extreme that a practical woman like Lady Violet would have sought to exercise a pressure foredoomed to failure. As every schoolboy knows—but not apparently Mr. Fairlie—these two vehement personalities belong to different establish- ments which have no means of influencing each other, even if they were to try.—Yours faithfully,
RANDOLPH S. CHURCHILL
Stour, East Bergholt, near Colchester, Essex
Previous page
