Letter: Hard to resist the urge to purge

I AM dismayed by your report that the Home Secretary has rejected the shortlist of candidates for the post of Prison Ombudsman because they are 'too left-wing' ('Convicted MP gets state-funded post', 8 August). One day this government will leave office. When it does, there will be great pressure to turn the normal changes in holders of public posts into a political purge. If the next government should give in to such pressure, it would make government by consent that much harder to continue. Michael Howard is not making it easier for them to resist temptation.

Earl Russell

House of Lords