Letter: Accountability begins at home

Sir: Eric Chalker bemoans the lack of accountability and democracy within Conservative Party headquarters ('Norman, we won't miss you', 17 June) and calls for an elected chair voted on by the constituency associations to revitalise the party.

There must have been many reading this who would have wished that the same prescription had been adopted earlier. Not only to Smith Square but also to those areas of British life now laid waste by the elimination of much of local government responsibility and the ubiquitous spread of non-elected quangos across the land. The penny has dropped - but too late?

Yours sincerely

RICHARD DE ZOYSA

South Bank University

London, SE1

17 June