Letters: Boris Johnson remains the best leader to head the Government and fight the next election

SIR – The parliamentary Conservative Party and its followers should be careful. A Conservative government has two main functions: to govern the country to the best of its ability, and to protect the country from the threat of socialism.

The noise from Labour, the Lib Dems and the SNP, coupled with hysteria from the BBC, ITV and Sky News, should awaken the Conservative Party to the perils of a witch-hunt of Boris Johnson.

Yes, his ability to control civil service “social” events in No 10 is unacceptable at best, but in 2024 he should still be a vote-winner, and I fail to see any other candidate who can protect the country from Jeremy Corbyn Mark 2.

David Neeson
West Chiltington, West Sussex

SIR – David Davis’s speech has only galvanised my continued support for Boris Johnson as our Prime Minister.

“In the name of God, go”? Seriously? Are drinks in the garden really as big a calamity as being defeated by the Nazis, as reflected in the Norway debate of May 1940?

Mr Davis has shown that this scandal has run away into unreasoning hysteria.

Robert Frazer
Salford, Lancashire

SIR – In the name of God, come up with something original. The last MP who quoted Cromwell’s words to the Rump Parliament at a serving PM was Dennis Skinner – and come the next election he was the one the electorate told to go instead.

Mark Boyle
Johnstone, Renfrewshire

SIR – David Davis called on Boris Johnson to resign. He himself has a history of resignations and resignation threats, including his resignation as Brexit Secretary in 2018, when the negotiations with Brussels were at a difficult stage. Why does he think Mr Johnson should emulate him when the going gets tough?

Andrew Hughes
Durham

SIR – At Prime Minister’s Questions Mr Johnson said: “I take full responsibility for everything done in this pandemic and throughout the pandemic.”

What does “taking responsibility” mean? Unless there is a punishment, a consequence, it is just words. It’s in the same league as Tony Blair saying about the Iraq war, “I did what I thought was right”, as if that was an acceptable explanation of his behaviour.

John Booth
Long Crendon, Buckinghamshire

SIR – To be kicked by parliamentarians, journalists and the country at large before any actual proof of guilt has an unpleasant aroma and belittles us as a nation.

Do we really want the upheaval of choosing a new leader when problems at home and abroad are so serious that even Churchill and Lloyd George might have been found wanting.

Nothing can change what happened two years ago, so let’s have a bit more stiff upper lip. And all those who never deviated one iota during Covid restrictions, step forward.

Eileen Burridge
Ringwood, Hampshire

SIR – This week I tested positive for Covid and I am isolating at home. I have a mildly tight chest and cough.

I can’t help feeling grateful to Boris Johnson for getting the vaccine out so soon or I would no doubt feel much worse, or be in hospital.

This was a remarkable feat, made possible by another of his huge successes, Brexit.

Michael Jeffrey
London W12

SIR – “Do the Tories really care about people like us?” asks Allister Heath. In view of the damage that net-zero costs are inflicting upon us, the answer can only be no, they don’t care.

The Government is pursuing extremist green goals on the back of those who cannot afford it. The policy will impoverish many who are just getting by. The Government is actively discouraging the exploration of Britain’s natural resources, resulting in higher prices as energy has to be imported. It is artificially inflating energy prices to pay for unreliable wind power. It plans to destroy our ability to heat our homes effectively and cheaply. This is not conservatism, it is virtue-signalling elitism.

If the Conservatives think that tinkering with VAT on fuel or tweaking national insurance or even replacing the Prime Minister will save them from electoral defeat, they are deluding themselves. They need to reverse the strategic disaster that they’ve tied themselves to and ditch net zero.

Phil Coutie
Exeter, Devon

Biden falters

SIR – The situation in the United States is very serious for Nato and the West.

The President’s minders – sorry, advisers – clearly try to keep him away from television and public events because he is becoming less physically and mentally able to fulfil his role.

Whenever he does appear, he has difficulty stringing together more than two sentences. He is clearly not up to the job.

John Horton
Tadcaster, North Yorkshire

SIR – Is Joe Biden a latter-day Neville Chamberlain? While Chamberlain thought he had achieved “peace in our time”, Hitler had already moved his troops to the Polish border.

While Mr Biden and the West continue to jaw-jaw, Vladimir Putin is ready to invade Ukraine.

Mr Biden has already let down Afghanistan. Will Ukraine be next?

Doug Morrison
Cranbrook, Kent

Class clues

SIR – Anita Singh, in her review of Keeping Up With the Aristocrats, lists cufflinks and being ill as things considered “common”.

In the 1950s, my aspiring-to-be-lower-middle-class parents obsessed over what was beneath us.

We would apparently betray our working-class roots if we enjoyed comics, failed to ask permission to leave the table after a meal, didn’t worry about what the neighbours thought, shouted when we played in the garden, used the front room only on high days and holidays or watched ITV.

Veronica Timperley
London W1

Magistrate numbers

SIR – I have been a magistrate for 36 years. Since 2012 the number serving in England and Wales has fallen from about 25,000 to 13,000.

It is hard to see how any increase in our powers (Letters, January 20) will affect the trial backlog in Crown Courts.

In East Sussex, seven out of eight magistrates’ courts have been closed and redeveloped. This has meant that defendants faced with long journeys often do not appear as summoned, leading to costly and time-consuming arrest warrants being issued.

Unless the number of magistrates rises and local courts are re-established, the overdue increase in magistrates’ powers will be pointless.

Brian Higgins
Eastbourne, East Sussex

Gay servicemen

SIR – During my service in the RAF, I came across a number of gay airmen.

They were not treated differently. We were vaguely aware of an offence known as “two on one bed”, but did not take it seriously. I never heard of anyone being charged with being gay.

Keith Herdman
Whitley Bay, Northumberland

Equine amendment

SIR – I have a strong objection to Tim Stanley referring to Matt Hancock as a “Suffolk stallion”.

As a member of the Suffolk Horse Society, I doubt he would have passed a stallion inspection and is likely to have been gelded.

David Chaplin
Horringer, Suffolk

HSBC fees force charities to close accounts

SIR – I ran an HSBC account (Letters, January 20) for a small charity that supports people while they work towards the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award. There were no fees or interest until November 1 2021, when HSBC imposed a monthly fee of £5 and charges for every transaction. We had a small lump sum, which would soon have disappeared into bank coffers.

We decided to close the account. I presented the forms on December 8 and it was finally closed on January 7. I was warned by the bank teller that it might take a while, not only because of festive bank holidays but also as a result of “a big backlog of other account closures”. What a surprise.

We have found somewhere more hospitable for the money.

Sue Cole
Malvern Wells, Worcestershire

SIR – I am the treasurer of a small village charity, which for many years had a free HSBC account with telephone banking facilities.

In August 2021 HSBC said that from November 1 there would be a £5 monthly charge, along with other fees if we wanted to pay money in or out. On November 1, when I tried to use the telephone banking facilities, I was told by the recorded voice that our details were no longer recognised, and it took me until December 23 to get them reinstated after many visits to branches.

HSBC states that it is “confident that our offer remains very competitive”. As far as I am aware it is the only bank that is charging small charities for an account, yet we cannot consider switching to a different one because at the moment none of them are opening charity accounts.

Alan Brown
Northampton

SIR – Due to Covid our monthly meetings (on the Thames) have not taken place – meaning we have had no income.

How can HSBC justify the £5 charge when the account has always been in credit? I too might resort to keeping the society’s money in a tin (Letters, January 15).

Margaret Webster
Treasurer, River Thames Society
London SW6

The unique taste of a trespassing cow’s milk

SIR – My family stayed on the Isle of Mull in the 1960s and our milk was provided by the nearby farm from three cows: Jean, Meg and big fat Rosy (Letters, January 20). It was strictly unpasteurised and, other than the occasional spider, just fine.

However, big fat Rosy liked to break into the packing shed to eat the onions. “Sour” did not begin to describe the taste of her milk thereafter.

Crispin Caldicott
Warkworth, Auckland, New Zealand

SIR – Our milk was delivered by horse and cart in the 1940s. My mother ladled it into containers and allowed the cream to come to the top. This was kept to spoon over strawberries from our garden. The leftovers were made into delicious scones.

Sadly, our milkman’s cows got tuberculosis and were destroyed. Happily, I lived to tell the tale.

Wendy Tanqueray
Esher, Kent

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