Quack, quack
Sir: Mr Martin Vander Weyer asserts that `the Prime Minister, Sir Winston Churchill, ... instructed his Chancellor, Peter Thorn- eycroft, . . . to put a stop to Clore. Thorney- croft refused to intervene.'
I was a Private Secretary at No 10 at the time, and I remember the incident well. Sir Hugh Wontner had sought Churchill's sup- port, but the latter simply referred the mat- ter to the Board of Trade of which Thorn- eycroft was President (he did not become Chancellor of the Exchequer until 1957) without exerting any pressure at all. Fond though he was of the Savoy with its many associations, Churchill was far too careful, experienced — and fair-minded — to inter- vene in a commercial dispute.
This canard was set quacking some years ago and I then wrote to Lord Thorneycroft to confirm my own recollection. He replied unequivocally that the Prime Minister had not sought to influence him in any way. Nor had he himself become involved.
Anthony Montague Browne
Hawkridge Cottages, Bucklebury, Nr Reading, Berkshire
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