I FELT I must write in response to your recent correspondent Ms Dorothy Brady, who accused local Conservatives of being behind recent attacks on Ruth Kelly MP.

Unfortunately she chose to cite a recent letter from a Mr Connell, criticising Ruth Kelly's appearance in a series of photographs in the Bolton Evening News, after, in Mr Connell's words, "three years of complete ambiguity" as the work of the local Conservative Party.

Mr Connell is not, and to the best of my knowledge, has never been a member of the local Conservative Association. He is simply a Bolton West resident with strong views about the behaviour of his local MP.

As for Mr Stevens, I am delighted that Ms Brady found him to be 'very charming' on the occasion of their previous meeting. I am sure that many hundreds of local people who have had dealings with Mr Stevens have found him to be charming, honest, hard-working, and dedicated to the local community.

Unlike your correspondent, I do however believe that Mr Stevens was right to point out that the sitting Labour MP Ruth Kelly had only attended 30 per cent of the votes in the last parliamentary year, and had the 598th worst record of the 648 voting MPs. His criticism is rightly levelled at Ms Kelly's public record, not her personal lifestyle.

Ms Kelly was elected to represent Bolton West in the House of Commons, yet her parliamentary record proves that she has been less assiduous in representing the people of Bolton than her local Labour colleagues Brian Iddon and David Crausby, who participated in 92pc and 87pc of the votes respectively.

Whenever the general election is called, there will be many local and national factors that will determine the outcome of the poll here in Bolton West.

However, in making their decision, it is entirely right that local electors have an opportunity to compare the level of representation they have received from Ms Kelly with that received in neighbouring constituencies.

Stephen Wallon

Chairman

Bolton West Conservative Association