Letters: Fishing for votes

Sir: I could not, at first, believe my eyes. I gazed on the picture of William Hague not only eating a plate of fish and chips but sprinkling brown vinegar on it (13 April).

We used to see Harold Wilson doing things like this. He was wooing the unions and it was part of the beer-and-sandwiches at No 10 culture. But this is a Tory leader! He needs some new spin doctors.

The idea of Harold Macmillan eating fish and chips is quite inconceivable. Of present-day Tories, Michael Portillo might do it, but he would not let the media see. John Redwood never. I can see him eating wild locusts and honey, but not fish and chips.

If this is the sort of PR campaign the Tories are going to mount in the forthcoming elections, their vote will shrink to a hard core of backwoodsmen.

SIDNEY VINES

Salisbury