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		Letter to the Editor Leicester Mercury - Saturday 3rd September 2005 Dear Sir, Collis Gretton (letters, 1/9) accuses me of sneering and cowardice. He can't argue with the message, so he chooses to insult the messenger. He quotes Margaret Thatcher at length, speaking in favour of the (then) EEC. I could equally quote Tony Blair, who in his 1983 election manifesto said "A Labour government will take Britain out of the EEC, which has drained our resources and destroyed jobs" (one of many manifesto commitments that Blair has failed to deliver). But the question is not what other people said in the last century, but what we will decide to do in this century. Gretton accuses me of "lack of courage" for remaining in the Conservative party. If he equates loyalty with cowardice, he is morally confused. In fact I recently lost the Conservative Whip in Brussels because I insisted on fulfilling a clear manifesto commitment to oppose cronyism and malpractice in the European Commission, despite firm instructions, backed by disciplinary threats from the Chief Whip, not to do so. Mercury readers will judge for themselves what this says about courage. Yours faithfully, Roger Helmer MEP