Zoe Williams maligns an honourable man (The cheating of Jo Swinson …, G2, 19 July). In her piece on parliamentary pairing, she claims that in 1979, the terminally ill Sir Alfred Broughton “was stiffed by his Tory opposite Bernard Weatherill in a vote of no confidence against the then Labour prime minister James Callaghan”. Broughton was not Weatherill’s opposite. That was Labour’s Walter Harrison.
As whips, Harrison and Weatherill did have a pairing agreement when Thatcher called a vote of no confidence. The very sick Labour MP Broughton wanted to attend but the prime minister felt he could not ask him to do so. Weatherill told Harrison he would not be able to persuade any Tory MP to pair, and offered to do so himself as a matter of conscience and so as not to break their agreement.
Harrison could not let him make such a sacrifice, which would have ended his career, and the government lost by one vote. Honour all round, though the role of the Scots Nats and Liberals in bringing about that downfall and the rise of Margaret Thatcher should never be overlooked.
Susan Seager
London
• Far from the terminally ill Labour MP, Alfred Broughton, being “stiffed” by the then opposition deputy chief whip, Weatherill had very honourably offered to absent himself from the vote of confidence. His Labour opposite number, my predecessor as Wakefield MP, Walter Harrison, had refused his offer, knowing the likely impact on Weatherill personally and politically of such action. The courage and decency of Weatherill and Harrison at the time stands in stark contrast to the shabby whipping operation behind the current government, as shown by recent events.
David Hinchliffe
Holmfirth, West Yorkshire
• Would you like to submit a photograph to be printed in the Guardian’s letters spread? If so, you can do so here
• Join the debate – email guardian.letters@theguardian.com
• Read more Guardian letters – click here to visit gu.com/letters
