Marxists and the press

SIR – As the political editor of the Liverpool Daily Post from 1973 to 1983, and then 1986 to 2000, I recall what it was like to coexist with Militant, the precursor of Momentum, which has sadly taken over the Labour Party.

At one point, Liverpool’s Labour councillors and MPS were instructed by the Militant-run city council to have nothing to do with journalists on the Liverpool Post and Echo. “I’m sorry, David, we cannot talk to you,” Derek Hatton told me. Even the heavyweight MP Eric Heffer, who was not a Militant member, had to decline an interview. More menacingly, Militant withdrew council advertising from the Liverpool papers.

What got rid of this Marxist partywithin-a-party was not Neil Kinnock but the people. Confronted with the possibility that the city parks might have to be sold, they replaced the Labour Party with the Liberals.

If Jeremy Corbyn gained power, his government would threaten our values of free speech, a free press and tolerance of diversity. It would curb press freedom, impose sanctions on journalists and use its power to damage newspapers financially. David Rose

Richmond, Surrey