Cool it, Kelvin
From Mr Nicholas Paget-Brown
Sir: Kelvin MacKenzie ('Duncan Smith ate my party', 11 May) has lost his touch. Rather than firing crepitatious pot shots at fain Duncan Smith, he would do better to consider the reasons behind the Conservatives' last two general election defeats.
If he strayed a bit further than an 'upscale' restaurant in Westminster, he would have discovered that both wipeouts occurred as a result of the tone, perception and presentation of the Conservative party and not because of a lack of clear policies. The voters thought that the Conservatives had become sleazier and more strident than the Sun, but not nearly as funny, and that we had lost touch with their ordinary concerns.
However, the perception is changing. I have fought council elections as a Conservative for the last 16 years. The latest were very far from the 'disaster' caricatured by MacKenzie. For the first time 1 can remember, not a single one of the hundreds of voters
I spoke to felt the need to make it clear that they either despised or loathed the Conservative party. Many were clearly weary with Blair and will not be nearly as forgiving towards him at the next election if there is a reasonable and attractive Conservative alternative.
lain Duncan Smith has clearly recognised the unpopularity of the MacKenzie-style brand of aggressive politics, and talks calmly and reasonably about matters that actually concern the public. Rebuilding our popularity and credibility needs time, team effort and persistence, and yet MacKenzie's self-indulgent squawking from the sidelines seems designed only to increase the electoral body count. Cool it, Kelvin.
Nicholas Paget-Brown
London SW10
From Mrs R.J. Parlett Sir: You describe Kelvin Mackenzie as having 'brio'. To judge by the tone of his article, he has a distinct lack of loyalty, discretion and subtlety.
What would be the point of disclosing the policy decisions which the party would apply instead of those being made by Tony Blair, only to risk having them adopted and adapted to the point of destruction? Any good ideas currently being discussed and refined do not need to be disclosed to the electorate until such time as the leadership decides that they and their interrelationship represent a water-tight programme for their next election manifesto. In the meantime, the opposition's job is to expose the myths and flaws in government policy.
The grassroots party membership is sick to death with such internal carping, con brio or no.
Regina J. Parlett
Kingston-upon-Thames, Surrey
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