He did so in the following letter, published in The Daily Telegraph on February 6.
Sir, Will Alex Salmond become the modern Parnell promising SNP votes at Westminster to any government “prepared to meet his demands”? (“ Parnell’s ghost is hovering as the Tories consider their options”, Feb. 3). When Gladstone brought forward his Irish Home Rule Bill in the hung parliament of 1886 to appease Parnell, he sought at the same time to abolish Irish representation at Westminster completely. He said that Parnell and his Nationalist MPs were “like vermin about a man’s person, troublesome and disagreeable”.
Later he compromised, proposing to retain Irish MPs but cutting their number drastically to reduce their power of blackmail. If Mr Salmond does hold the balance of power after the election, such expedients will surely begin to look attractive to Gladstone’s unhappy successors and the Union will be in the gravest peril. But they will have only themselves to blame for failing to solve the question of English votes for English laws in this Parliament.
Lord Lexden
London SW1