On the trail of the ‘swivel-eyed loons’

Sir, – In his otherwise excellent piece on the Brexit situation, Brian Lucey attributes the comparison of Brexiteers to "swivel-eyed loons" to John Major ("A hard Brexit and a hard border are bearable", Opinion & Analysis, August 1st).

In fact, the comments were alleged to have been made in 2013 by Lord Feldman, then chairman of the Conservative Party.

Mr Lucey may have been thinking of Mr Major’s famous description of the rebels MPs in his own party who were attempting to scupper the Maastricht treaty in 1993 as “bastards”.

Those rebels, many of whom are still in the House of Commons, paved the way for the attitudes towards Ireland which Prof Lucey accurately describes as having taken hold of a sizeable minority within the Conservative Party. – Yours, etc,

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THOMAS

RYAN,

Harolds Cross,

Dublin 6W.