[• When Julius Caesar was assassinated, the job…]

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• When Julius Caesar was assassinated, the job of res cuing his reputation was given (in the Shakespeare version of events) to Mark Antony-cunning, ruthless, and ambitious.

His Friends, Romans, Countrymen" speech skillfully transformed the anti-Cacsar Roman masses into would-be avengers.

Keith Joseph, on the other hand, appears to lack Mark Antony's talents-and should consider changing his scriptwriter.

According to the Daily Mail account of his visit to Wales "He sought out the workers of South Wales to : have reasonable converse with them".

Their reaction was not to praise Joseph but to bury himin eggs, tomatoes and other foodstuffs.

But Joseph's ungainly retreat from Wales was treated by the press as yet another example of the sub-humanity of the workers involved.

The Daily Telegraph defence of 'poor Sir Keith' was not even anxious to acpord them even that much, saying he was pelted:

"by a relatively small crowd purporting to consist of dis possessed steel workers"

"Bullets?"

After outlinig a short history - of British politicians receiving similar treatment the paper said:

"The uneasy feeling remains that even such modest viotence has today a more sinister meaning than it used to... Is it quite morbid to fear that nowadays those who start with eggs and tomatoes may quickly graduate to bullets?" The Daily Mail was more sanguine.

*There are worse dangers in political life than being shouted down by angry Welshmen or having to dodge a few squelshy missiles. The greatest threat to this Tory Government right now is that it will suffer from a loss of nerve:"

But Sir Keith's difficulties were small beer to the reaction to the mass picket at Hadfields.