Letters: Hartlepool saw Labour for what it now is: a party of the liberal elite

SIR – There is an irony to Labour losing its core “working-class” vote in the Hartlepool by-election.

The party was created to defend the rights of workers against the elite ruling class but has evolved to become the party of and for that class, now made up of (among others) university-educated metropolitans, the judiciary, education institutions, the Civil Service and the BBC.

Dr David Slawson
Nairn

SIR – Isn’t it time Labour realised that the term “working-class” is no longer relevant?

Until Sir Keir Starmer and his party understand that the country is no longer divided between cloth caps and bowler hats, they will fail to convince voters of their usefulness.

Tom Whitmore
Southwell, Nottinghamshire

SIR – Sir Keir Starmer stood shoulder to shoulder with Jeremy Corbyn, seeking to make him prime minister in full knowledge of his economic illiteracy, contempt for patriotism and support for anti-Semitic factions. He voted to remain in the EU – and, had things gone his way, we would be part of its vaccine programme.

What judgment. The British people have no difficulty in seeing him for what he is: a master of hindsight and opportunism.

David Crigman QC
Birmingham

SIR – Some Labour members are attributing their failure to the fact that Sir Keir Starmer hasn’t had “long enough” to change the direction of the party and make it more appealing to voters. I would point out to them that Boris Johnson achieved a stunning result in the general election of 2019 after less than five months as Conservative leader.

The Hartlepool victory was a tremendous result for Mr Johnson and his Government, which has been justly rewarded for the outstanding organisation of both the vaccine procurement and the vaccine rollout. Sir Keir Starmer might improve his party’s fortunes if he gave the Government some credit for the things it has got right, rather than posing with wallpaper in John Lewis.

Celia Wright
Sturminster Newton, Dorset

SIR – I voted for the Green Party in Thursday’s council election. I have been eligible to vote since 1988 and this was the first time I did not support the Conservatives. This was, in part, due to a contentious local housing development, but also because of a sense of being taken for granted.

During the campaign I received no visit from any Conservative representative; I did, however, receive a phone call from the Conservative candidate at 10.30 on Thursday morning, three hours after I had voted.

Labour’s collapse is a salutary lesson in what can happen when a party takes its base for granted.

Mark Young
Barcombe Mills, East Sussex

French vindictiveness

SIR – This week our former European Union “partners”, the French, closed their consulate on Jersey and threatened to cut off our electricity supply, as well as blockading our harbours.

With friends like these, who needs enemies? Full marks to the Prime Minister for his speedy response.

James B Sinclair
St Helier, Jersey

SIR – Surely 26 members of the EU do not approve of the immature behaviour of the French towards Britain.

The pompous, grandstanding Emmanuel Macron has become an out-of-control bully. Who will put him back in his box?

Simon McIlroy
Croydon, Surrey

SIR – I was pleased to read your report (May 2) about plans to pardon the “metric martyrs”, and for a change in the law that would allow shops to sell goods in imperial measurements alone. I have resented being told by the EU that I cannot use the terms I grew up with.

Like millions of others, I would like to see the restoration of Fahrenheit into weather forecasts, for instance, along with stones and pounds into weighing machines in doctors’ surgeries.

The possibilities are endless.

Clive Green
Bristol

Safe assisted dying

SIR – Some people oppose the legalisation of assisted dying because they are concerned that people might pressure their elderly relatives into opting for it.

However, that is actually more likely to happen now, because the illegality of assisted suicide means that any help is given secretly. This can easily be used as a cover by those who wish to place relatives under undue pressure.

Legalisation, by contrast, would bring in safeguards. Two doctors and a high court judge would have to confirm that the person who wished to be helped to die did in fact have that desire, and that they had a terminal illness giving them less than six months to live.

Many terminal illnesses can involve physical pain, incapacity, incontinence and dementia. Many people would choose to die a few months early in order to avoid some or all of these. Surely we should be allowed to make that choice, if we wish.

Richard Mountford
Tonbridge, Kent

The road to VE Day

SIR – With regard to the legacy of “Bomber” Harris (Letters, May 2), in 2006 I attended a lecture by the late Hugh Lunghi at RMA Sandhurst on his time as a Russian interpreter. He spoke of his role at the Yalta conference in February 1945.

The Russians at that time were under extreme pressure on their western front and Stalin requested Allied bombing of Leipzig and Dresden, which were two major transport hubs feeding men and munitions to the front.

The Allies agreed and the order was sent to London. After five years of war, German bombing of all major British cities had claimed over 40,000 lives , and V1 and V2 rockets were still being launched at London.

The bombardment took place a week later. Eight weeks after that, the Russians crossed the Elbe, met by American troops, and two weeks later came VE day.

Brian J Singleton
Baslow, Derbyshire

How MPs vote

SIR – The thrust of Christopher Hope’s report, that MPs should “set an example” by returning to Westminster in person, is quite correct. Yet the number of proxy votes cast en bloc, whether by the Deputy Chief Whip or anyone else, is no accurate guide to the number of MPs attending the Commons in recent weeks and months. Many of us are actually on the premises when our votes are cast by proxies.

While social distancing remains, the huge benefit of voting in person – namely, meeting most of our colleagues simultaneously in the voting lobbies – falls away. To stand for long periods in long queues, snaking along corridors and back-and-forth in Westminster Hall, while unable to talk to more than a couple of people, is a very poor use of everybody’s time.

That, rather than a desire to leave early, explains why so many MPs have given their proxies to trusted colleagues. We shall be quick to claim them back, just as soon as social distancing comes to an end.

Dr Julian Lewis MP (Con)
Cadnam, Hampshire

Wirral quarrel

SIR – I strongly disagree with Philippa Turner (Letters, May 2) over the naming of the Wirral Peninsula.

My ancestors all derive from that part of the world. I was born in West Kirby, went to school there and spent an idyllic childhood in Little Neston on the Dee estuary. My family, friends and I always referred to “the Wirral”. Only in recent years have I heard it called otherwise, and I find it most annoying.

Judith White
Mellor, Lancashire

SIR – I am chairman of the Wirral Society but struggle to answer Philippa Turner’s question with authority.

Historically we are “The Hundred of Wirral”, but no one uses that term these days. Of the three authors of recent books about the area, one regrets that it is now referred to as “Wirral” or “the Wirral Peninsula” but says “the Wirral” is incorrect. Another accepts that most people refer to “the Wirral”. The third calls it “Wirral”.

Still, despite this lack of clarity, “the Wirral” seems to be here to stay.

Rod Tann
West Kirby, Wirral

SIR – (The) Gower and (the) Wirral are not unique. There is an area of Sheffield, Wicker, which is almost universally referred to as “the Wicker”.

Mark Harries
Chesterfield, Derbyshire

Ships fit for a Duke of Edinburgh: a history

SIR – There has been speculation about the possibility of naming a future royal yacht or warship in honour of the late Duke of Edinburgh.

This idea has a precedent. The first HMS Duke of Edinburgh was named in accordance with the wishes of King Edward VII, to honour his younger brother Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh following his sudden death in 1900.

In contrast to Prince Philip, who had to abandon his naval career to support the Queen, Prince Alfred was able to pursue his career, which culminated in his appointment as the Commander-in-Chief, Devonport, from 1890 to 1893 in the rank of admiral. He was promoted to admiral of the fleet on June 3 1893 and became the reigning Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha that August.

The 13,550-ton armoured cruiser named in his honour was built by Pembroke Dock and launched on June 14 1904. She joined the fleet in 1906 and fought in the Battle of Jutland in 1916. She was sold for scrap in 1920. Pembroke Dock also built five royal yachts, including HM Yacht Britannia’s predecessor HM Yacht Victoria & Albert (III).

The name Duke of Edinburgh was earmarked in the early 1960s for the second of the Royal Navy’s projected class of 54,500-ton aircraft carriers, which were cancelled in 1966. The lead ship would have been named Queen Elizabeth and the name Prince of Wales was reserved for the third ship. The latter pair of names were subsequently allocated to the Royal Navy’s latest fifth-generation aircraft carriers, which entered service in 2017 and 2019 respectively.

More recently, Prince Philip’s former command, HMS Magpie, inspired the naming of the Royal Navy’s latest survey ship: an 18 m catamaran. The Duke approved the current HMS Magpie’s motto Lux in tenebris lucet (“The light shineth in darkness”) and sent a message to the ship’s company that was read out during her commissioning ceremony in Devonport in June 2018. The only potential complication relating to the use of the name Duke of Edinburgh is that the eighth Type 26 city class frigate is due to be named HMS Edinburgh.

Ultimately, however, the naming of a future ship in Prince Philip’s honour is a matter for the Queen and the Admiralty Ships’ Names Committee to consider.

Richard Johnstone-Bryden
Beausoleil, Alpes-Maritimes, France

SIR – I would be delighted to see a new ship called HMS Prince Philip fulfilling a number of functions to the benefit of the UK, as well as righting a historic wrong: the loss of a royal yacht for the Queen’s use.

It is crucial that any ship performing this task is one of Her Majesty’s ships and manned by the Royal Navy. That is what gave royal yachts a particular cachet, smartness, efficiency and elegance.

These men should be additional to the Navy’s manpower ceiling and all costs should be borne by the Cabinet Office, not the Ministry of Defence.

Admiral Lord West of Spithead (Lab)
London SW1