LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Front: E. Tangye Lean, Christopher Hall, Harry Cohen, M. H. MacPherson. Major-General J. R. Hartwell (Rtd.), Frank Auerbach, Ralph Intone, Evelyn King, MP, Findlay P. Murdoch, Rabbi S. Warshaw, and Christopher Layton.
Call Me Brother
SIR,--Quoodle's paragraph headed 'Call Me Brother' (February 19) is both inaccurate and misleading.
It is not correct to say that the fact that Mr.
William Warbey went to North Vietnam as a guest of the Communist authorities there was suppressed or 'censored.' On the contrary, it was fully and clearly stated in the introduction to the interview with Mr. Warbey, as was also the nature of Mr. Warbey's political views. The question of who paid Mr. Warbey's expenses was not relevant to the dis- cussion which was always intended to follow the interview with Mr. Warbey, and in which the par- ticipants were Edward Gardner, QC, MP, David Ennals, MP, and Ian Waller, political correspondent of the Sunday Telegraph. This dealt with parlia- mentary reactions to the Vietnamese crisis and with prospects for a solution. The BBC is satisfied that the presentation of the subject was fully in accordance with its normal standards of objectivity.
No apology was tendered to the two authors of the unpublished letter to the Spectator on the matter of 'censorship.' When the BBC became aware that a misunderstanding had occurred between them and the producer—some time before Quoodle's 'friendly warning,' incidentally—the head of the department concerned took immediate steps to clear it up. Both the contributors concerned were given a full and detailed explanation of the circumstances, and as a result they withdrew their letter of complaint.
Quoodle himself received a 'friendly warning.' on the piquant occasion at the BBC to which he refers. that he had got his facts wrong. It is a pity that he chose to ignore it and to repeat under his own pen- name charges which had been withdrawn.
[Quoodle writes: 'Of course it is not correct to say that the fact that Mr. Warbey went to North Viet- nam as a guest of the Communist authorities there was suppressed or censored. 1 never said it was. 1 said that people who were invited to take part in BBC programmes were asked not to mention it. Since they would give no such guarantee. the invitation to appear was withdrawn. The discussion between Messrs. Gardner. Ennals and Waller was something quite separate. Call this censorship or what you will: the fact remains that people with certain views were excluded from appearing after they had first been asked to do so 'Whether or not the BBC actually apologised to the contributors concerned is playing with words. Certainly one of them thought he had had an apology, a very handsome one. Certainly the BBC advanced some very curious explanations. Both con- tributors remain convinced that they were withdrawn from the programmes concerned because the issues they might have raised, and both of them stand by the interpretation 1 gave in "Spectator's Notebook" last week.'--Editor. Spectator.]
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