Letter: Dazzled by Blair, blinded to Lib Dems

Sir: I am surprised that you should choose to focus on the Tower Hamlets election where the Labour Party held a safe council seat (In Brief; 'Labour poll win', 16 September). The mere presence of a British National Party candidate surely does not warrant this coverage.

There were 16 council by-elections on the same day as the one you chose to report. In these, the dominant message was that only the Liberal Democrats are making net gains. We even took a seat from Labour in Northavon.

This fits the pattern of elections throughout the summer, a pattern that has gone unreported. Could it be that the reality of Labour poll defeats does not fit in with the media image of the Blair honeymoon?

Yours sincerely,

DAVID RENDEL

MP for Newbury (Lib Dem)

House of Commons

London, SW1

16 September

The writer is the Liberal Democrat local government spokesman.