Letter: How Wales saw the start of the swinging Sixties

THE 35 per cent swing against the Tories in Christchurch is not, as you suggested it would be, 'the largest against a government in any by-election since the war' ('Tories face by-election rout', 25 July). In the late 1960s the Labour government fared worse.

In March 1967 there was a swing of 35 per cent from Labour to Plaid Cymru in the Rhondda West by-election, while in July 1968 the by-election in Caerphilly resulted in a swing to Plaid Cymru of 38.7 per cent. Remarkably, neither result was sufficient to unseat Labour.

Paul O'Leary

University of Wales

Aberystwyth