Sir, Tories have not represented Canterbury since 1835 without interruption (“Tory addiction”, June 14).
Between 1880 and 1885 the constituency had no MP. It was disfranchised as a result of electoral corruption. A Liberal candidate at the 1880 election made it known that he had been offered £1,000 to stand down. The Tories owned up but spread the dishonour by revealing that he had tried to extract £2,500 as his price for withdrawing.
LORD LEXDEN
House of Lords