He didn't go to any charm school and, as he himself has said, he is not at his best on the stage. But I would contend that history will judge him as a great Prime Minister, a man of integrity who put country before ambition and who almost single-handedly in the first instance led the world out of a global economic crisis for which he had no vestige of blame attached to its cause. It was right for Labour to talk to the so-called Liberal Democrats to see if they could be persuaded to join Labour in the interests of the country. They have chosen to act in their own interests, and as one who has spent many years in the bear pit we call democracy in this country I predict they will be judged as less honourable than the man they spurned. We shall see. For now I hope we will appreciate the good Gordon Brown has done, overlook his lack of superficial charm, admire him as a husband and father as well as a statesman. I, for one, wish him well. CHRISTINE RICHARD OBE New Cut Rigg Edinburgh