Letter: Union history belies Blair fairy tale

Richard Arthur
Monday 24 March 1997 00:02 GMT
Comments

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Letter: Union history belies Blair fairy tale

Sir: I am sorry to see that Mr Major loathes what we are doing in Camden Council ("Morale-raising pep talk sends troops to battle", 20 March). I just wonder what it is that he loathes.

Is it, perhaps, the quality of our services, which have received three Chartermarks from his own Cabinet Office? Is it the quality of our education, which shows far better results than Tory Wandsworth or Tory Westminster? Is it our Regeneration Strategy, which has won pounds 50m of government money and has been commended by his own government office for London?

Is it our housing programme, which has been commended consistently by his Department of the Environment? Is it our work on cutting crime, where our partnership with the Metropolitan Police in tackling drug dealing in King's Cross was given first place in the Metropolitan Police Annual Report?

Of course, it could be something rather different that Mr Major loathes. Perhaps it is the memory of standing in this borough as a parliamentary candidate and being soundly beaten. Or, perhaps, it is the memory of his party chairman, Brian Mawhinney, complaining that we were wasting money on a centre for women which he then discovered was sponsored by Save the Children Fund.

Councillor RICHARD ARTHUR

Leader of the Council

Camden

London WC1

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in