Letters: How the Conservative Party can move on from the Zahawi debacle

SIR – Now that Nadhim Zahawi has been sacked for non-disclosure of his tax affairs, surely it is time to bring in a Tory party chairman who has the foresight, stamina and passion for the traditions of Conservatism that have been lost from this Government.

Philip Hall
Petersfield, Hampshire

SIR – Nadhim Zahawi’s departure will send shock waves through Parliament. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has shown that he will remove Cabinet ministers who lack credibility, rather than wait for their resignation.

Nigel Lines
Ferndown, Dorset

SIR – The sacking of the Conservative Party chairman is yet another disgraceful incident in the life of a Government that appears to be strewn with buffoons, liars, incompetents and opportunists, who have brought the bar on modern political behaviour to an all-time low. The dust may have settled on the Truss debacle but the country is in deep trouble on every front and Rishi Sunak shows no sign of leading us out it.

If the Government were the board of a major public company it would be sacked by its shareholders. The chairman has gone, the rest of the board should now resign and give the nation the chance to vote in a government worthy of respect, with the talent and experience to behave and govern properly. We may then regain some political dignity and have a better chance of solving the current and future challenges we face.

Michael Robinson
Onston, Cheshire

SIR – Rishi Sunak has emerged from his first 100 days without much credit (Comment, January 28). He was unceremoniously thrust into the leadership role, following the fiasco of Liz Truss, to wade through the smouldering detritus left by Boris Johnson. To ask a gifted accountant, swept into the role of chief executive, to become the whipping boy for so much ingrained incompetence is unfair. Perhaps more than a hundred days is needed before we judge him.

Cameron Morice
Reading, Berkshire

SIR – Camilla Tominey’s suggestion that the Tories need Boris Johnson back (Comment, January 28) is, I’d suggest, misjudged.

Boris won a great election victory in 2019 for two principal reasons: first, he offered frustrated Red Wall seat Brexit voters the prospect of “getting Brexit done” and secondly, the alternative was a Corbyn premiership.

Mr Johnson may continue to be popular among Tory party members, but his premiership convinced the majority of British voters that he is far too close to the bumbling fool that he has always pretended to be.

John Stewart
Terrick, Buckinghamshire

SIR – Is it really too much to expect that our politicians are honest?

John A Landamore
Upper Bruntingthorpe, Leicestershire

State-funded childcare

SIR – A E Couchman (Letters, January 28) argues in support of state funding for children’s early years. This might seem sensible, but like so many other government interventions, it would be the slippery slope to ever-increasing state spending.

When the welfare state was established, it was intended as a short-term financial assistance while people got their lives back in order after the Second World War. It has now grown to finance many people from the cradle to the grave, with little incentive to support themselves.

The state already pays child benefit, to help families with the cost of bringing up children. Payment for nursery childcare would inevitably lead to pressure for increased funding for primary school books, meals and uniforms, then up through secondary school. How long before state-funded holidays, mobile phones and internet connections were demanded?

John Snook
Sheffield, South Yorkshire

A classical education

SIR – It is gratifying to read the recent letters supporting the role of classical music on the school curriculum.

Before I retired as a primary school teacher, I regularly played soft, gentle classical music to my class of seven- and eight-year-olds. It provided a calming background to the working environment and seemed to help their concentration. It was a joy to see children absorbed in their work, gently humming under their breath instead of arguing or disrupting others.

My pupils quickly got to know which pieces they liked and it was quite common for a child to come to me and say, “Can we have the quiet music on please?” When asked which piece they wanted to hear, they would say, “That one that sounds like the sea,” or “That one that makes you feel happy.”

These are some of the things I do miss about teaching.

Jennifer Dean
Davenham, Cheshire

Tasteful tequila

SIR – I was amused to read that “high-end huns” (Features, January 26) regard clear tequila as posh.

When living in Mexico in the late 1990s, I discovered early on that clear tequila is the working man’s drink, consumed in tumblers with sparkling grapefruit, and in copious quantities, to keep refreshed at outdoor events. One marque, Herradura Blanco, which at 46 per cent ABV was not for export, attracted the opprobrium “para los hombres”; though I met the Mexican wife of a British expat who drank it neat as her pre-lunch tipple.

Malcolm Watson
Ryde, Isle of Wight

Hospitals at home

SIR – So now there is a “hospital at home” plan to save the NHS (report, January 29), meaning that, when possible, patients will be cared for by video link in order to ease pressure on A&E departments.

When I worked as a family GP from 1972, our practice, with a first-class team of nurses, midwives and nursing assistants, cared for our patients 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It has slowly been destroyed by political interference from both parties, failure of managers to understand its worth and an increasingly militant British Medical Association.

Dr Ralph Stephenson
Little Somborne, Hampshire

SIR – Food banks are vital to support those currently in need. However, though few would suggest they should exist to support everyone in society, everyone expects “free” healthcare.

Free healthcare at the point of need is highly desirable, but is akin to food banks for everyone. Maurice Saatchi (report, January 29) is right, a Royal Commission is needed to look at how our previously world-class NHS is to be funded in the future. The alternative seems to be a widening gap between what is possible and what is available to our ever-increasing population needs.

Dr Graham Streeter
Marden, Kent

SIR – A Royal Commission on healthcare will only waste more time and money. It is blindingly obvious to everyone that there are too many NHS managers. We should follow the example of Sir Miles Thomas who, when put in charge of the failing BOAC in 1949, removed an entire level of senior management. The company improved dramatically.

In the case of the NHS, apart from reducing costs, I am sure that such a move would improve the morale of the many professionals trying to do their job, which would in turn aid recruitment.

Peter Mace
Storrington, West Sussex

SIR – I am fortunate to have easy and rapid access to some excellent GPs, one of whom recently ordered numerous blood tests. That same day I received a text appointment for the samples to be taken at the surgery – some six weeks later.

When I was a chief biomedical scientist, responsible for providing phlebotomy services to GPs, there would have been uproar had I informed them of a six-week wait for what should be a five-minute task. This seems to be yet another area where the service has deteriorated dramatically.

Adrian Waller
Woodsetts, South Yorkshire

SIR – After medical failings resulted in the death of a new baby (report, January 28), what benefit can there be in fining an NHS trust when it is individuals who have failed?

The money will be a direct loss to any such trust and deprive future patients of vital care. Surely it would be better to put more money and effort into improvements and training, based on lessons learnt.

Simon Julien
Newton Ferrers, Devon

Royal regalia

SIR – I do not envy the individual who is commissioned to make the gown for the Queen Consort to wear at the Coronation of King Charles III (report, January 27). Norman Hartnell’s Coronation dress, worn by our late Queen, was a masterpiece of design and craftmanship. It will be a very hard act to follow.

Jane Moth
Stone, Staffordshire

Why low-value coins should stay in circulation

SIR – Christopher G Knight (Letters, January 26) thinks it is time to stop producing all coins below the value of 20p. However, I recently paid £1.19 for an item in a shop, so handed the assistant £5. When she struggled to give me change, I suggested that I give her an extra 20p, so she could give me £4 and a penny change, which she found much easier. I think there is still a place for lesser value coins.

Dorothy Irvin
Lymm, Cheshire

The inner jeans pocket holds a rock’n’roll secret

SIR – Gary Lambert (Letters, January 25) is correct – the small pocket in a pair of jeans is perfect for carrying a tenner, but any guitarist will tell you that its true purpose is to make sure you are never without a plectrum.

Steven James
Flax Bourton, Somerset

SIR – How many times has Mr Lambert’s tenner been through the wash?

Andy Anderson
New Yatt, Oxfordshire

SIR – As a teenager in the 1960s, I carried a lighter in my inner jeans pocket (Letters, January 26) and a packet of cigarettes in the breast pocket of my matching jacket – perfectly concealed from parental view.

Michael Price
Ashford, Middlesex

SIR – Am I showing my age if I disclose that I use my inner jeans pocket for storing my heart pills?

Jeff Rawlins
West Lavington, West Sussex

SIR – Shrinking jeans to fit (Letters, January 28) was a problem in New Zealand in the 1970s. People would go swimming in their jeans, which then shrank, making it impossible to swim back to shore. They often had to be rescued by the lifeguards.

Captain John Maioha Stewart
Breisach, Baden-Württemberg, Germany

SIR – While at School House, Malvern College, I was Jeremy Paxman’s fag. I well remember him lying in the bath in his Levi jeans, awaiting the perfect fit.

Dr Steven R Hopkins
Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire

SIR – When I was 13, I spent my first week’s earnings on a pair of jeans. My mother was horrified. “If you wear those, people will think you’re a paper boy,” she said. When I pointed out that I was, she replied: “No, you’re a boy who happens to deliver papers – there’s a big difference.”

David J Powell
Ringwood, Hampshire

SIR – When jeans became fashionable, an old chap on our farm said: “It seems like everyone is dressed for work and nobody wants to go.” I think he was ahead of his time.

Jonathan Whittingham
Bomere Heath, Shropshire

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