I WONDER whether Europhobe Brian Hunt will still see Winston Churchill as his "hero" when he hears that the great man told The Hague Conference in May 1948:

"Sixteen European States are now associated for economic purposes; five have entered into close - economic and military relationship.

"We hope that this nucleus will in due course be joined by the people of Scandinavia, and of the Iberian peninsula, as well as by Italy."

He counted Britain not only among the 16 but also among the five, and was quite obviously then seeing his country as not merely part of Europe but part of its core.

He went on to face the sovereignty issue directly. He said that mutual aid in the economic and military fields must "inevitably be accompanied step-by-step with a parallel policy of closer political unity."

It is said with truth that this involved some sacrifice or merger of national sovereignty.

But it is also possible, and not less agreeable, to regard it as the gradual assumption by all the nations concerned of that larger sovereignty which can also protect their diverse and distinctive customs and characteristics.

Ain't that just beautiful (as well as settling, Brian, the issue between us of what kind of Europe Churchill really wanted)?

DAVID BARLOW, Worcester.