IT would appear that Blackburn Conservative Association is so short of members with the ability to represent the town in parliament that it has had to issue a desperate appeal for a potential candidate.

One of the qualifications they should make sure that any potential candidate has is that they suffer from selective memory syndrome.

They must be able to erase from their memory that it was a Conservative government which took us into the Common Market, held a referendum so worded that it guaranteed to keep us in and a Conservative Prime Minister who said: "There is no place for Britain outside the Common Market."

They must also ignore the fact that it was a Conservative government which set up the Crown Prosecution Service that has been so successful that it should be renamed the Criminal Protection Service.

On local issues, they must also forget that it was a Conservative government that sanctioned the start the 'road to nowhere' and then cancelled future funding. They must also overlook that cabinet councils were originally a Conservative idea.

L LAWES, Bold Street, Blackburn.