I can confirm to Councillor David Smith (Letters, February 7) that Ivan Massow was indeed very much involved with Brighton Kemp Town Conservative Association in the early to mid-Eighties.

Mr Massow chaired the Rottingdean ward branch of the Young Conservatives at the same time as I was chairman of the Queens Park ward Young Conservatives.

I remember Ivan as a very serious and intense young man. He was at that time a staunch supporter of Mrs Thatcher and her policies.

He will be remembered by a number of other Young Conservatives from those days, including former Tory councillor Michael Furminger - they were rivals for the constituency chairmanship of the Young Conservatives.

I see Ivan has had the good sense to finally leave the Tory party, although I don't think much of his new party either.

-Paul David Holden, Lynchet Close, Hollingdean