Conference diary Sir: Writing of Mr Trudeau. the Canadian Prime
Minister (Letters, 7 February), Sandra Anderson asks: 'What other leader is there in the world today who would risk standing in front of more than 400 students and answer their unrehearsed questions without the benefit of notes or aides to assist him?' The answer is Mr Heath, leader of the Conservative party.
On 8 April last year he addressed more than 1,000 delegates of the National Union of Students at Leicester University. This meet- ing was held only three weeks after about eighty Labour MPS had refused to meet student leaders during a lobby of Westminster. It was also the first time in the forty-six-year history of the union that a leader of a major political party had attended a NUS conference.
The following day The Times reported : 'The 1,000 delegates listened to him attentively and he was frequently applauded.'
On 8 February this year at Bournemouth, Mr Heath also spoke to more than 1.000 Young Conservatives and answered their questions without notes or aides.
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