ON February 5 the Times carried a full page advertisement for Trago Mills which included an extraordinary rant against the European Movement, signed by David Challice.

Mr Challice described the European Movement as 'the Brussels-funded lobby group'. He is wrong. The European Movement is a voluntary organisation which is funded by its members and supporters. It is not a political party. It includes members of all the main political parties represented at Westminster. Its purpose is to encourage the spread of knowledge about the European Union and Britain's place in it.

Mr Challice named some of the more distinguished supporters of the European Movement, describing them, absurdly, as 'EU Grandees'. He mentioned Paddy Ashdown, Leon Brittain, Neil Kinnock, Julia Neuberger, Chris Patten, Shirley Williams and George Robertson. Others whom he did not mention, but could have done, include Charles Kennedy, Kenneth Clarke, Michael Heseltine and Douglas Hurd. And there are many more, not 'EU Grandees', but men and women of widely different political views whose years in public life have shown them the immense opportunity the European Union presents for Britain if only we care to grasp it.

And who, one might ask, are the UKIP 'Grandees', the known figures who have nailed their colours to the UKIP mast? One, and one alone, Robert Kilroy-Silk, a former TV entertainer who, having been sacked by the BBC for highly controversial comments about Arabs, joined UKIP only to resign a couple of years later, saying he was ashamed to have joined the party, which he called 'a joke'.

I wonder which company your readers would prefer to be associated with?

Christopher Denne

Chair

European Movement Tamar branch

Churchtown Farm,

Sydenham Damerel