LETTERS : Cherie Blair and the poll tax defaulter

Last week, our main front-page article reported that Cherie Blair, a barrister and the wife of the Labour leader Tony Blair, had acted in a series of cases for councils pursuing poll tax defaulters. In one case, she asked a judge to return a bail ed defaulter to jail. We also reported that she had given a conference paper on how to enforce the law, including the threat of prison, against defaulters. A leader explained our decision to publish the story.

In response, we received nearly 100 letters. A large majority of these said we were wrong to give the story such prominence. Below, we publish a selection.

IS Cherie Blair's work really the most important item of last Sunday's news? I found your front-page spread and self- congratulatory leader extraordinarily malevolent and irrelevant. I am no fan of either of the Blairs but I have appreciated your newspaper. Now it appears you will attack Cherie Blair in the way Glenys Kinnock was once attacked. I thought your standards were higher.

Jan Dryden Cardiff