The Tory party today is a party that accepts a law-breaker as leader
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I used to tell children in assembly “not to decide is to decide” and “if you don’t stand for something, you’ll fall for anything”.
These may be old Christmas cracker lines, but the Tory party this morning is the party which accepts a law-breaker as its leader.
When they do eventually remove him, it will be because of electoral defeats, Northern Ireland, Brexit, the Union or something else. The public will do what they ask, and “move on”, but they will do so knowing at last that the truth for a Tory is only about power and remaining in office in order to pursue personal profit.
Richard Arrowsmith
Ellesmere
An affront to the British public
Being the leader of any organisation, and especially being prime minister, requires the ability to motivate others to excel in their relative fields.
However, this motivational force should be based on truth, established facts, honesty and experience, but we have a prime minister who is devoid of the background which enables him to simply tell the truth and therefore unfit to lead this country.
Through his tenure, he has infected the Tory party with his brand of maladministration. From expenses scandals through Brexit to Covid, Boris’s band of misguided acolytes have reduced Britain to a second-rate country and a laughing stock on the world stage.
Mr Johnson’s hollow apologies and the embarrassing admissions of support from his MPs are an affront to the British public. Boris ought to have the good grace to resign, never to appear as a public figure again. Instead, we are treated to this carnival of deceit and mismanagement which will severely damage Britain’s future prospects.
Too long we have been plagued by the Tory party’s inability to govern – led by an incompetent, lying PM. The time for change is in the air, let’s take the opportunity to make that change happen.
Keith Poole
Basingstoke
Grovelling in parliament
How unedifying! The prime minister of the UK grovelling in parliament for breaking his own laws. Actually, I believe him when he says it never even occurred to him that his “gatherings” were illegal.
Boris Johnson has always had only one idea in his head: I do what’s best for me. And by that rule of life, he has indeed succeeded.
All the “big calls” have certainly worked for him: Brexit (will get me the premiership if I go for it); Brexit (will keep me the premiership if I get it done); Covid-19 (big opportunities for my rich mates to get richer); Ukraine (I can’t believe my luck! What timing! Quick, get a photoshoot).
Katharine Powell
Cheshire
A horrible country
In today’s Independent you have a rash of opinions on the current home secretary. They suggest that she is a nasty woman because she is leading the government’s proposal to send potential immigrants to Rwanda.
Actually, we can draw no conclusions on Priti Patel’s character from this proposal. She is part of a populist government. She is playing to the gallery.
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She knows that plenty of voters will like the proposal. It is a net vote winner. So it does not say she is a horrible woman so much as it says that we have become a horrible country. Shame be upon us.
Bernard Cudd
Morpeth
Elon Musk
Elon Musk claiming to be “homeless” is an insult to homeless people everywhere. American billionaires are trying to change the meaning of what homelessness is. Do the millions of Muslims observing Ramadan, including myself, have the right to say they are starving, even though their pantries are bursting with food and drink?
Mr Musk has decided to live without a permanent abode and that is his choice, but to make the absurd claim that he is “homeless” shows that some people have more money than good sense.
Mr J Khan
Address supplied
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