Letters: The Conservative Party no longer represents the views of its members
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SIR – Sir Graham Brady, chairman of the Conservative Party’s 1922 Committee, would like the choice of leader to be removed from party members and entrusted to MPs (Letters, May 1).
One starts to wonder what point is left in being a member at all when the democratic essence of it is less evident. Rightly or wrongly, members chose both Boris Johnson and Liz Truss because they reflected their political views. Have MPs done much better?
Even the selection of candidates has been purloined by the powers that be, and largely removed from local associations. Central Office takes over in respect of by-elections and “true blue” Tories are often declined admission to the approved list of candidates.
It’s as if the party has been stolen by well-meaning liberals. We will not see the country regaining confidence in it until real Conservatives take control.
Jonathan Fogg
Loulé, Algarve, Portugal
SIR – No wonder the Conservative Party is in such disarray. It has too many MPs who are not conservative. You would have thought it would have learnt its lesson.
Maybe next time?
Simon Warde
Bognor Regis, West Sussex
SIR – How many times do we hear the cry that the current major political parties are not listening to voters and their priorities?
This is clear in the evidence that some in desperation will vote Labour just for change, not out of conviction, while others will vote Reform to signify their priorities or, significantly, will not vote at all. Are we really going to have to wait for Labour to fail under Sir Keir Starmer, as most anticipate, or for the Conservatives to collapse before politicians emerge who actually represent the will of the people?
Let’s hope that a sustainable leadership that listens to people and common sense will emerge, sooner rather than later, so that we get the country the electorate voted for in 2016, before the grim period that so many of us anticipate.
Peter Williman
Chatteris, Cambridgeshire
SIR – When deciding who should have a say in the choice of Conservative Party leader, surely the fact that MPs see and work with the contenders on a daily basis must put them in a better position to judge suitability than mere onlookers.
Christopher Hunt (Letters, May 1) writes that being a “good performer” in the case of Penny Mordaunt is not enough. However, I would say that carrying a sword at the Coronation and giving the first speech in sign language to the House of Commons demonstrate, among other things, determination and character. A good team leader doesn’t need to be a financial wizard – they appoint one.
Sandra Jones
Old Cleeve, Somerset
Police officers’ safety
SIR – The horrific episode in London that left a schoolboy dead and others injured has again shown how police officers who are committed to defending the public will willingly head towards danger despite being under-equipped to defend themselves.
You report (May 1) that a 2019 survey showed that 89 per cent of officers in England and Wales would like to be issued with a Taser, while 81 per cent said they would feel safer if they were armed with the devices. Surely the same duty of care that police regularly demonstrate to the public should now be applied to them as well.
Stuart Harrington
Burnham-on-Sea, Somerset
SIR – The Metropolitan Police is roundly criticised on a number of issues, but credit where credit is due: Tuesday’s incident in Hainault demonstrated the exemplary behaviour that has long been the hallmark of good policing.
The female officer is to be commended for her action, placing herself in harm’s way to immobilise the suspect with her Taser while colleagues did everything possible to protect the public.
Stephen Howey
Woodford Green, Essex
SIR – The failure by the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, to tackle knife crime is not only a public safety and public health concern, it is also precipitating an economic crisis.
London’s streets do not feel safe. Hospitality and retail are struggling – and is it any wonder, when young people like me face rampaging mobs in far too many communities across the city?
Liam Bruce
London SE1
BBC balance
SIR – I must agree with Philip Richardson (Letters, May 1), who objects to the “whooping and cheering” of the Any Questions? audience on Radio 4.
I used to listen regularly but rarely do now due to the audience bias displayed, regardless of the location of the programme. However, I did listen last week and, like him, was appalled.
The Labour and Green Party members were cheered after virtually every sentence they uttered, while the Conservative representative was laughed at on most points he raised – though they were important and he expressed them calmly.
As the BBC does not even pretend to offer any balance, I will not be listening again.
Stephen Ford
Rayleigh, Essex
Good clean work
SIR – My husband, who is a retired company director, is one of a group of local residents who go litter-picking along the roads in our village.
He does not find this demeaning, so why should a young unemployed person think it is (Letters, May 1)? Helping to keep the local community tidy is a positive thing and helps to establish a work ethic.
Sarah Pearson
Burridge, Hampshire
For peat’s sake
SIR – The reason plants at supermarkets and DIY stores fail (Letters, May 1) is that they put them in peat-free compost, which doesn’t hold water and quickly dries out.
Although it is more expensive, I use compost with peat in it – which works.
Stephen Woodbridge-Smith
Tavistock, Devon
Scottish instability
SIR – The instability now affecting the Scottish political system is in large measure the consequence of the Additional Member System, a form of proportional representation that was instituted when Scottish devolution was enacted in 1998.
Under it, “top up” members are assigned to the Scottish parliament from party lists in order to make up the proportion of members deemed to have voted for each political party. Not only is this undemocratic, it also encourages the representation of single-issue parties in parliament. Except during the past heyday of the SNP, the outcome has been a coalition in which a minority single-issue party can seek to control the government’s agenda, as we have seen.
The Left-wing fashion for PR exists and remains potentially dangerous. A future prime minister with Tony Blair’s naivety on the matter could still bring it about.
Anthony Pick
Newbury, Berkshire
Covid vaccine risks
SIR – I was sad to read the criticism of AstraZeneca and the legal actions against the company (report, April 29). People seem to have forgotten that AZ produced a vaccine that enabled us to end the dreadful lockdown.
All vaccines and medications have risks attached. Anyone who takes regular medication will know the packet contains a long list of possible side effects. We all know this but judge that the benefit of taking the medication outweighs the risks. The same applies to the Covid vaccine.
Geoff Blackman
Mullion, Cornwall
Visitor charges
SIR – While a €5 charge for day trippers to visit Venice has attracted some controversy (report, April 26), your readers may not be aware that at least two tiny, privately owned, villages in the south of England already effectively charge visitors a similar amount.
While the tiny hamlet of Buckler’s Hard in Hampshire, owned by the Beaulieu Estate, doesn’t charge for entry, it does cost £4.80 to park a car for between one and three hours – and there’s no alternative. The undeniably picturesque village of Clovelly on the North Devon coast, which is owned by the Rous family, charges adults £9.50 for access to the village, although this does include entry to a couple of museums.
Jeremy Archer
Newport, Isle of Wight
A memorable addition to a glass of Babycham
SIR – Further to Beryl Franks’s letter (April 30), I too was allowed a Babycham by my aunt in the 1950s. It was served in the Babycham glass with – wait for it – a glacé cherry bobbing in it. The height of sophistication.
Jacqui Griffiths
Bwlchllan, Cardiganshire
SIR – Many years ago I took my family to a popular Chinese restaurant in Leicester. As my son was a toddler, I asked for the baby chair, but the waiter brought a Babycham instead. To my eternal regret, I turned it down.
Michael Quinn
Bridport, Dorset
The need for clarity in the assisted dying debate
SIR – Citing the Oxford English Dictionary, Juliet Buckley (Letters, May 1) writes that euthanasia means “a gentle and easy death”, not “deliberately ending someone’s life”. Yet the full OED definition includes: “the action of inducing” death.
She tries to distinguish this from “assisted dying”, which she describes as how we give “very ill or old” pets an easy death. Leaving aside that being very ill or old need not mean dying, putting down pets is euthanasia, and euthanasia of a non-voluntary kind.
“Assisted dying” is a vague euphemism that dangerously conflates the intentional killing of patients and/or assisting them to commit suicide with legally and ethically uncontroversial palliative care, including decisions to withhold or withdraw treatment.
In a recent podcast on the topic, Lord Falconer of Thoroton said: “Assisted dying can mean a whole range of things. It can mean taking your own life because you are terminally ill. It can mean taking your own life simply because you are suffering. Or it can mean turning off the machines and not getting treatment.”
Such woolly phrases can only confuse public understanding and should have no place in public policy debate.
Professor John Keown
Kennedy Institute of Ethics
Georgetown University
Washington DC, United States
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