Letter: Major's free vote mystery

Sir: A few days ago, an immaculate and polite Tory canvasser turned up our doorstep to ask if we were planning to vote, in our irretrievably Tory constituency, for the new, irretrievably Eurosceptic Tory candidate. We began gently to express our disillusionment with the Tory record in general, including the party's stance on Europe.

"Oh, I suppose you must be a businessman ..." replied the lady, sadly. So much for the party's perception of the loyalty of its own power-base. Are the xenophobes and the blimps the only Tory supporters left, I wonder?

PAUL HICKMAN

Lymington,

Hampshire