Party politics
Sir: I don’t think it is true that I would be unhappy in any party, as Ross Clark suggests (‘The end of the party’ 14 September). I was very happy in the old Liberal party, which I joined as a 14-year-old and did not leave for almost 20 years. I then became a Eurorealist so could not join any major party. Having taken a leading role in the Bruges Group I then set up the Anti-Federalist League, which subsequently became Ukip. Between 1988 and 1997 I spent a huge amount of time writing pamphlets, fighting by-elections, fighting general and European elections, leading parties and campaigns — while all the time teaching and researching at LSE, my only salaried post. So again, I remained consistently in one camp. I don’t think the idea that I flit around constantly from one cause to the next bears the slightest resemblance to the truth.
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