Built on a lie
Sir: J. Alan Smith (Letters, 13 June) points out that Churchill from 1940-45 was, like Gordon Brown today, ‘a prime minister who was “unelected”’ — as though that should allay concerns about the democratic legitimacy of Mr Brown’s premiership. But the main concern about Mr Brown’s democratic legitimacy is not so much that he is ‘unelected’ as prime minister, but that at the last general election the then Labour leader, Tony Blair, promised expressly on 30 September 2004 that he, Mr Blair, would serve as prime minister for the full parliamentary term
Logically, of course, that entailed a promise that no one else, and therefore not Mr Brown, would be prime minister during the term. But it is worse even than that: when Tony Blair made his promise, everyone understood that he meant, specifically, that Gordon Brown would not be prime minister in this parliamentary term — a direct rebuttal of the Conservatives’ (all too prescient) accusation ‘Vote Blair, get Brown’.
So the real democratic problem with Mr Brown’s prime ministership is that by its very existence, it is a breach of the solemn and explicit pledge made by Labour to the British people at the last election. We have absolutely no reason to take lectures from Mr Brown now about ‘democratic renewal’.
Michael Grenfell
London NW11
Opponents are bonkers
Sir: Martin Bright focuses on the Labour party’s obsession with mental health (‘Insanity has always been integral to New Labour’ 13 June). This trait is not unique to Labour, though. Who can forget the Majorites dubbing the Eurosceptic supporters of John Redwood as ‘ward eight from Broadmoor’ in 1995? Or the Liberal Democrats’ Mark Oaten citing mental health issues allied to hair loss as the rationale for some very wayward behaviour? Or even, best of all, the fictional description of the ‘rise of the nutters’ in Armando Iannucci’s The Thick of It?
Paul Richards
London SW18
Try the real world
Sir: Thank you, Ross Clark (‘Aspiring politicians should join Labour’, 13 June), for encouraging a new generation of career politicians. If you are under 27 and interested in politics, it would be better for all of us if you worked in the real world for at least the next 15 years. Try starting and running a business — then you will understand the perverse consequences of most government action, and have valuable experience that is sorely needed on the Labour benches.
Bruno Prior
Farnham, Buckinghamshire
Toby’s contingency plans
Sir: Has Toby Young considered (Status Anxiety, 13 June) his contingency plans? Assuming he succeeds in persuading the Tories to extend their ‘free school’ policy to grammar schools, and he then succeeds in establishing one in Acton, what would he do should one or more of his own children fail the selection test?
Rowland Nelken
Nottingham
Burning issues
Sir: Having foolishly placed my fingers on a very hot electric hob and then quickly opened the fridge, I was reminded to tell Jeremy Clarke that he needn’t, for once, have gone to the pub in his hour of need (Low Life, 13 June).
He should instead have hastened to the nearest corner shop and bought half a dozen eggs. Then he should have broken one or two over the burn, letting the yolk slip away as it invariably does, but ensuring that the egg white covers the affected area. In a short time the egg white hardens — it does, in fact, cook, thus drawing heat from the skin and reducing the trauma to it. It also forms a protective coating over the burn. If this treatment is applied in time, painful blistering can be avoided.
Hypnosis is also an effective treatment for severe burns, but one is unlikely to find a hypnotist in the fridge, or indeed in your corner shop. And Jeremy may feel that he is under enough influences without adding another.
Clarke Hayes
Hastings
The dog’s name
Sir: If Stephen Fry were to name the dog in The Dam Busters ‘Digger’ (You know it makes sense, 13 June), would this reminder of Sir Keith Park’s homeland not be a reproach to ‘Bomber’ Harris and a joy to Spitfire devotees worldwide as well as slipping beneath the radar of modern-day PC?
J.M. Hallinan
New South Wales, Australia
Obama’s grandfather
Sir: Andrew Roberts is correct to doubt Mr Obama’s step-grandmother’s allegation that Obama Sr was tortured during the Mau Mau emergency. The President’s grandfather was a member of the Luo tribe, which remained firmly loyal to the British administration. He would have faced the ire of the elders if he had tried to join the Mau Mau, members of which were drawn from the Kikuyu tribe. The Luo and Kikuyu disliked each other intensely.
My father was provincial commissioner in Nyanza — the province where the Luo reside — at the time of the emergency, until 1957. He spent his time visiting the locations in the province to offer support and he let it be known that his door was always open to anyone who had concerns. He was much liked by all races.
Veronica Bellers (née Williams)
By email
Smoke and mirrors
Sir: Gordon Brown seeks to obfuscate the fact that the public finances are in a terminal mess and that cuts in public expenditure are an inevitability. If his misleading statements were to be issued in a financial prospectus, he would face prosecution by the Financial Services Authority for grossly misleading the public. As Brown juggles with his smoke and mirrors figures, he would do well to recall Blake: ‘A truth that’s told with bad intent, beats all the lies you can invent.’
Tom Benyon
Oxford
Lieutenant Paul Mervis
(1981-2009)
Paul Mervis arrived at The Spectator for a fortnight of work experience in the spring of 2005 and we missed him when he left. He was passionate about foreign affairs and spent hours discussing Iraq and Iran. He was also great fun and perhaps the only work-experience student to have a piece (on Iran) published in the magazine during his time. In 2007 Lt Mervis was one of the first officers commissioned into the newly formed Rifles. Last Friday he was killed in an explosion in Helmand province, Afghanistan. By all accounts, Paul was a remarkable soldier: ‘One in a trillion,’ said his commanding officer. Perhaps the most significant tributes came from his men: ‘In all my 20 years in the army,’ said one, ‘I have never met, nor am likely to meet, an officer who cared so much about his men.’ We’re proud that Paul was, for a short time, part of The Spectator. Our thoughts are with his family and the soldiers of 10 Platoon.
Comments