ON Tuesday, September 11, Tony Blair travelled to Brighton to address the TUC Conference. As usual, excerpts from his speech had been trailed in the national press.

So we do know that he intended to argue that Britain should join the Euro, because "we cannot turn our backs on the strategic alliance on our doorstep".

Instead, informed of the horrific events in the USA, he returned to London, and declared that we "stand shoulder to shoulder with our American friends."

And the next day, NATO invoked Article 5 of the founding treaty, signed in Washington in 1949, that "an attack on one NATO member is an attack on all."

We should take careful note of this article. It implies, inter alia, that if any European member ever attacked another, it would automatically face an overwhelming coalition.

In the real world, it is NATO, not the EU, that has secured peace in Europe. Those who argue otherwise are in some cases, deliberately confusing cause and effect.

Dr D R Cooper

Belmont Park Avenue

Maidenhead