Mrs May’s desperate triangulations show that she is out of her depth
SIR – I believe that Theresa May’s longevity as Home Secretary, despite her many failings with police reform, immigration and other aspects of her office, was partly due to her avoidance of challenges and keeping a low profile when errors were identified.
There was no meaningful selection process before her coronation as leader of the Conservative Party and Prime Minister. This was a mistake. Mrs May has shown that she has been promoted well beyond her level of competence. Her ill-advised decision to call an election and subsequent attempts to rectify this mistake, first by striking an agreement with the Democratic Unionist Party and now pleading with Jeremy Corbyn to support her (report, July 11), further illustrate her inability to govern.
We need clear and decisive leadership. This can only be achieved by the Conservatives electing a new leader and, if necessary, calling a general election. Clifford Baxter
Wareham, Dorset SIR – Mr Corbyn’s faults are many and varied, but his appealing virtue is that he engages with ordinary people.
David Cameron rarely ventured outside his own social and political group, while Mrs May promoted herself as someone who keeps her head down and gets on with work while scrupulously avoiding bars or other places where she might actually pick up the odd snippet of public opinion.
She has no conception of the views or indeed the lives of ordinary people, which in this age of political engagement will prove fatal for her and all future potential leaders. Iain Gordon
Banstead, Surrey
SIR – Would the Conservatives please get a grip? Be patriots and speak with one voice. We hold a very strong hand in our negotiations with the European Union. Its leaders know it but will never acknowledge it. Just remember how they dealt with David Cameron. David Hopkinson
Truro, Cornwall SIR – A strong and respected leader with plenty of diversified experience is needed urgently to enable this country to stride ahead with confidence and determination.
Step forward, Owen Paterson. Michael Groom
Teffont Evias, Wiltshire
SIR – Tim Stanley (Comment, July 11) is right to point out that conservatism is more difficult to grasp than any philosophy of the Left. This is because it is derived from experience over centuries and is, naturally, more complex.
In his book The Conservative Party, Nigel Birch says at the beginning of his bibliography: “All standard works on British History from the reign of Henry VIII to the present day are relevant to the study of the Conservative Party.”
As a simple starter, I should add Rudyard Kiplng’s poem “The Gods of the Copybook Headings”. J Alan Smith
Epping, Essex