Like many others, I have been the subject of highly personalised attacks by the government in recent months. Boris Johnson referred to “Islingtonian remainers” as if they were a terrorist group. Liz Truss said that members of an “anti-growth coalition” lived in north London townhouses and took taxis. And Suella Braverman expressed her loathing for the “Guardian-reading, tofu-eating wokerati”.
My crime? I have lived in an Islington townhouse and read the Guardian for the best part of 40 years, I occasionally take taxis, and I have always believed in European integration. On the other hand, I cannot help but note that, unlike any of them, I am still in a job. In the spirit of full disclosure, I should also confess that I would not know what tofu was if it hit me on the back of the head.
Sir Peter Coulson
London
• Your editorial (19 October) was quite right to question the democratic legitimacy of our current government. At every level, it has no mandate. Where is the constitutional backstop to prevent this insanity continuing, happening again, and worse? It shouldn’t be possible for political parties to make up whatever rules suit them, and inflict the inept, the dangerous, the corrupt or the downright crazy on this country or the world.
Magna Carta was in 1215. We’re 800 years overdue for some basic political guidelines to be enshrined in constitutional law. Let’s start with this: a new political leader in government must be installed only with the electorate’s consent, after an election of the entire population.
Simon Carbery
Tetbury, Gloucestershire
• The Tory MP Charles Walker should not be treated as if he is a voice of reason speaking in the national interest. He ended his petulant outburst in which he denounced his colleagues’ putting self-interest over national interest on Wednesday by saying: “There is no one as ex- as an ex-MP.” Would that be even more ex-, Charles, than the many people who have lost jobs, mortgages, houses and their children’s futures?
Prof Helen Hills
York
• I enjoyed this on the BBC website, which may give a clue as to the arrangements for future PMs: “Liz Truss has been in office for just 45 days – the shortest tenure of any UK prime minister. The second shortest serving PM was George Canning, who served for 119 days after dying in 1827.” The field is wide open.
Rosemary Laxton
Saint-Araille, France
• Liz Truss had the infernal cheek to compare herself to the great Don Revie at Leeds United. She lasted only slightly longer than the 44-day tenure of Brian Clough, the Don’s damned successor. Good riddance.
Max Bell
Thame, Oxfordshire
• Sunlit uplands. Taking back control. I have a plan. Beyond parody. Beneath contempt.
Michael Egan
Umeå, Sweden
• Will King Charles III have more prime ministers than his mother?
Frank Desmond
Cork, Ireland
• How long do we need to wait for a victory statement from the lettuce?
Paresh Motla
Thame, Oxfordshire
• “I’m a fighter, not a quitter.” Her final spectacular U-turn.
Roshan Pedder
West Molesey, Surrey
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