◆ SpookStack

Gury Fo AE ESS ¢ discussion of the attitude of certain popular newspapers _ tofthe Burgess-Maclean flight continues in the correspondente i ; eee, Te _. ‘ eglumns of this journal. I wish only to comment on the id¢a | rn es + of the Establishment’ which Lady Violet’ Bonham r oe ; » regards as ‘a fiction,” Mr. Randolph Churchill asa beeinmy | © -=- yy aa . . bonnet and Mr. David Astor as a libellous ‘smear.’ I would :; - poe ask Lady Violet Bonham Carter and Mr. David Astor to oy . | Yead what I have written during the past two weeks more . , : carefully than they seem to have done. At no point did I © attribute to them, or to other members of the ‘Establishment,’ _ either improper motives—~indeed I went out’ of my way last . week to suggest that their motives were not only proper but - . such as all of us might have responded to—or the more specific’ - . motive of wishing to protect actual or presumed traitors, | mo oo, . merely suggested that, as always in this country, there is a te nexus of official and social relations which enables certain Foal + people to exercise more influence than other people can. I : : find nothing sinister in this. I believe that it is desirable that something like the ‘Establishment’. should exist, because, it |_ i pyevents even worse influences from operating. But I merely j°° | : Wished to make the point that the tentacles of the ‘Establigh- | yo A _; Ment’ seem to me—and not only to me—to stretch farther : Yot ~ 37 Aa SY 2-7F _ ‘| tolay than ever before. Because of this, Lady Violet Bonham | 7 oe i cr he oe ee 7 é ————— ——_— —_—— . ae a . NOT RECORDED = 7°: + 126 NOV 15 1955 \, LONDON, ENGLAND = "bead SUPY SENT QB, Mor DowoLah ey s ear ie. 7h aeeer sy en - __