26 JUNE 1993, Page 27

Too exciting

Sir: As a house guest of Lord and Lady McAlpine in Venice last weekend, I am able to refute Mr Dennis Skinner's asser- tion in Parliament on Monday that Michael Heseltine and Lord McAlpine had arranged to meet there and discuss Mr Asil Nadir. I was present during all their conver- sations — casual in the extreme — and both parties studiously avoided the topic. Mr Heseltine did remark that in the light of any future misconstruction, their chance encounter at the Cipriani Hotel was not one he had hoped for. End of subject. As to his heart attack, my mother speculated that the sight of me in my bathing things was undoubtedly the cause of it.

Min Hogg

Editor, The World of Interiors, 234 Kings Road, London SW3