Keith Graham (Letters, 21 October) suggests an alternative reason for Patrick Gordon Walker’s 1964 Smethwick defeat. But his theory that it was the intervention of a Liberal candidate, on a higher turnout, that swung the result is factually wrong and also at odds with the national trends in that election. The turnout was down, not up, in Smethwick, by 2% (also nationally). Obviously, third candidate reduced the percentage votes of Tory and Labour. However, across the country the Tories lost a parliamentary majority of 100, their vote down by 6%. In Smethwick their percentage vote increased by over 2%. In contrast, in neighbouring Wolverhampton, one Enoch Powell, with a Liberal also intervening, lost nearly 7% of his vote. Peter Griffiths’ unsavoury campaigning is still the best explanation of the 1964 result.
Dave Padley
Le Bourg, Blanot, France
