Manners Makyth Man
Sta,—I was surprised to see the Minister of Housing descending from the Olympian heights of his office to write a letter in your columns. I have a letter from Mr. Hogg, written when he was a Minister, saying that 'Ministers are not supposed to write controver- sial correspondence in the press' and while this may be arguable, it is clear that it is only on special occasions that a Minister does write to the press.
What is so special in this case? Presumably Mr. Crossman is wounded in his sensitivity by your remark 'less than honest' but I see no reason why this should be so. In case he has forgotten, perhaps you will allow me to remind him that before he reached his present eminence he wrote an article in the Guardian defending the necessity of lying in politics. Mr. Crossman wrote: 'The truth is that in politics there come occasions when honourable men are bound to practise deception and tell lies, and only hypocrites will impugn their personal integrity when things go wrong and they are caught red-handed.' (November 2, 1962.) All you, sir, did was to suggest that he was prac- tising what he preached. What is he annoyed about? L. E. WEIDBERG 14 Templewood Avenue, London, NW3
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