Madam, - In his review of the 1977 state papers at the National Archive in London, John Bew (December 28th) refers to Paddy Devlin's "resignation" from the SDLP "following the party's decision to put greater emphasis on the Irish dimension". The matter was not as simple as that, as Paddy Devlin acknowledged in his autobiography.
The SDLP executive expelled him in what he himself recognised as a "most unworthy squabble in which I was not the innocent party". In the interests of historical accuracy the fullest account of the episode can be found in Austin Currie's memoir between pages 303 and 306. - Yours, etc,
PAUL ARTHUR, Bangor, Co Down.