23 JULY 1988, Page 20

Sir: Sincere Conservatives, whose views I respect, must have been

appalled by the vulgarity of Mr Peregrine Worsthorne's attack on Lady Antonia Fraser. To launch such an onslaught on the basis of second- hand reports of a private political conversa- tion with which you happen to disagree is so absurd that we should, perhaps, shrug our shoulders at another example of New Tory brutalism.

It has been a great encouragement, up to now, that the bizarre amount of column inches devoted to the criticism of our tentative discussions has mainly consisted of somewhat childish abuse, emphasising the poverty of journalistic argument on the Right. Mr Worsthorne's abuse is quite adult, extremely unpleasant and empha- sises that poverty even more dramatically.

John Mortimer

Turville Heath Cottage, Henley-on-Thames, Oxon.