LETTERS – Hope members think hard

The Conservative leadership election is now on its last leg.

Given the party’s claim that it had a wealth of talent to choose from, it’s interesting to look at the candidates who got near the final stage.

Penny Mordaunt, who in 2016 declared that in the EU we’d not be able to stop Turkey’s accession, thus facing a flood of immigrants. The implication was that it was the EU’s fault. In fact, the EU allowed us a veto, but (as she now admits) David Cameron had made a private deal with Turkey not to block its admission.

Suella Braverman, who showed her readiness to deceive by saying the UK had been a vassal of the EU. That’s like saying a member of a golf club is a vassal of the club.

Kemi Badenoch, who admitted in 2018 that she had used her computer skills to hack the computer of a senior Labour MP. That cyber crime was reported to Action Fraud, the responsible authority.

Rishi Sunak, who twice failed to declare financial interests at the appropriate time.
Liz Truss, who puts on a wooden performance by constantly repeating phrases such as “I get things done”. Well, take a couple of her examples. For instance, the number of trade deals she has made. The deal with Australia was minuscule in respect of the amount of trade, and even to get that she had to concede the lower standards Australia demanded.

“Most of the other deals were like-for-like replacements of the deals we already had via the EU. It was the EU that had done the spade work. Then she says she faced up to Putin over Ukraine. Actually Johnson himself did most of the front work, and making it all come together was largely the work of Ben Wallace, the competent and unassuming Defence Secretary. Truss’s own performance was amateurish. She’s no Mrs Thatcher!

The guess now is that Truss will win. Let’s hope Conservative members will think hard about what they’re doing.

John Tippler
Spalding