Blair’s cowardly invasion
From J.G. Cluff
Sir: In your leading article (13 May) you list a litany of Mr Blair’s failures without mentioning the Iraq war. How can you leave out his dismal role in committing the country to that illegal, incompetent, unnecessary and cowardly excursion? I say cowardly because I am so cynical about this meretricious and mendacious politician that I now believe it was precisely because there were no weapons of mass destruction that America and Britain invaded Iraq. There is a sinister symmetry between Hans Blix’s pronouncement and the invasion. Had he established the existence of weapons of mass destruction, I doubt whether Bush and Blair would have committed anything other than hot air.
J.G. Cluff
London SW1
Grand old salesman
From Andrew Roberts
Sir: I wonder whether Paul Johnson is right to say that the modern practice of selling peerages for cash began under Lord Salisbury (And another thing, 13 May). The earliest documented example of it from that period came in 1891, with William Gladstone’s negotiations over baronies for the very rich Liberal MPs Sydney Stern and James Williamson. When he became prime minister, Lord Rosebery only agreed to honour the agreements once he was personally informed by Gladstone of the nature of the deals, and the two contributors became Lords Wandsworth and Ashton respectively. Lord Salisbury did nominate the shipbuilder and Tory party contributor Fortescue Flannery to a knighthood in 1899, but I believe that Gladstone rather than he began the modern practice.
Andrew Roberts
London SW3
Summer hols for soldiers
From Glynn Downton
Sir: I would not wish to belittle Sir Cliff Richard’s compassion in apparently recognising that Tony Blair was suffering as a result of his decision about the Iraq war (‘It seemed to me that Tony was suffering’, 13 May). Nor would I wish to belittle his generosity in offering, free of charge, the use of his home in Barbados to Mr Blair and his family during August. Even so, it does seem that the scope of his compassion and generosity was rather narrow in this particular regard, however wide it might be elsewhere. So come on, Sir Cliff, how about making your home available this summer to a few service widows and their families? After all, their suffering must be at least as intense as Mr Blair’s, and unlike him they probably can’t afford to go to Barbados at their own expense.
Glynn Downton
Maidstone, Kent
Hell is Europeans
From David Mayger
Sir: What is this to-ing and fro-ing among your correspondents about Americans with or without passports? Yes, there are more things to do and see here than in other countries, but that misses the point; you don’t want us over there and have never disguised that fact. The popular prints throughout Europe have bemoaned American manners, mores and the American presence since the French and Indian war (oops! the Seven Years’ War, to you). Simultaneously, you have all by and large aped the behaviours you decried, or committed worse, but, of course, managed to delude yourselves that your gaffes were somehow ‘different’. When the time finally comes to write our history, perhaps we can all agree that Woodrow Wilson was America’s worst president, for it was he who threw over Washington’s wise warning about foreign entanglements. And further agree that Sartre was only partly correct: hell is not just other people; hell is Europeans. Meanwhile, I promise to stay on my side of the ocean. Be a pal and stay on yours, will you?
David Mayger
Alexandria, Virginia, USA
Selwyn the scapegoat
From D.R. Thorpe
Sir: In his review of 1956: Power Defied by Peter Unwin (Books, 13 May) Douglas Hurd wrote that Selwyn Lloyd, the foreign secretary during the Suez Crisis, ‘owed us all his resignation’. In fact, Selwyn Lloyd tendered his resignation on 28 November 1956, telling the Cabinet, ‘I thought the best thing was to have a scapegoat and I was willing to resign.’ This resignation was refused.
D.R. Thorpe
Banbury, Oxon
Reid the Red
From Jonathan Mirsky
Sir: When I heard Mr Blair warning what would happen if he stood down at the wrong moment, it sounded familiar. Then I recalled that the Prime Minister’s close comrade, Home Secretary John Reid, is an ex-communist. Of course! The Chinese Communist party constantly insists that only it can maintain the country’s fragile stability. Every schoolchild learns to sing this jingle: ‘Without the Communist party there would be no New China’.
Jonathan Mirsky
London W11
Prescott impressed
From Sir Jeremy Beecham
Sir: Rod Liddle was right to be critical of the press coverage of John Prescott’s affair (‘Bogus morality’, 6 May) but wrong to dismiss his contribution to the government and the Labour party. While Mr Prescott ruefully admits to being only on nodding terms, at best, with the rules of syntax, his intelligence, shrewdness and political judgment have impressed those with whom he has had dealings. Don’t take my word for it; ask the Conservative and Liberal Democrat leaders in the Local Government Association.
Sir Jeremy Beecham
Labour Group Leader, LGA, London SW1
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