SIR – When I was conscripted into the Royal East Kent Regiment in 1955 I became a “private of the Buffs”. In those days, all young men were called up for two years National Service which had been introduced in its current form by the Labour Government in 1945.

By Jason Smith of UKIP’s logic (T&A, Letters, February 26) the inclusion of the word private in my job description would somehow imply that Labour – despite their protestations to the contrary – were even then somewhat soft on privatisation.

If you think that is ridiculous, it is no less so than Mr Smith’s suggestion that the funding of new schools and hospitals through the Private Finance Initiative (PFI) demonstrates that Labour is not as opposed to private involvement in the NHS as it pretends.

If, however, he had been taught politics at school (and which he thinks would be a good idea now), he would know that PFI is simply a device which allows governments of either stripes to raise funds for major capital projects without a corresponding and politically embarrassing increase in the public sector borrowing requirement.

Brian Holmans, Langley Road, Bingley