LETTER:No loyalty

CHRISTIAN Wolmar suggests that Transport minister John Watts's reluctance to travel on the first privatised train service was surprising, given his desperate need of publicity in defending a tiny majority in Slough ("Puzzled private train spotters go for the 5.10 from Twickenham", 4 February). In fact Mr Watts is so desperate that he is making every effort not to have to defend Slough at all. His string of unsuccessful attempts at shortlists elsewhere (Maidenhead, Hitchin and Harpenden, Worthing West) repeatedly show the voters of Slough what he really thinks of them - they await their opportunity, as the list of available seats for him to apply for diminishes, to display a similar show of "loyalty" to him, come the general election.

Stanley Jones

Slough, Berkshire