Theresa May urgently needs to save her premiership, her party and ultimately the nation

SIR – Allister Heath (Comment, October 5) comments that Theresa May “needs to plot a course back to conservatism if she wants to save her premiership”. To this he might have added: her party and more importantly, her country. Philip Nierop

Exeter, Devon

SIR – The Prime Minister has failed on two crucial occasions to present a radical Conservative agenda. In the general election and at the party conference, Mrs May has disastrously set out a Brexit edition of New Labour.

The Tories are in desperate need of a leader who is Conservative-minded and who fully believes in the goodness of the free market if they are to prevent a socialist government and capitalise on Brexit. Edward Hopewell

Great Chesterfield, Essex

SIR – I cannot understand why fellow Conservatives criticise Theresa May for her policies aimed at helping the less well off. Even the free-marketing Victorians such as Peel and Disraeli recognised the need to spend public money on liberating slaves, policing, public libraries, sewers and public health, elementary education and so on. And even when a reform had been passed by the Liberals, the Tories, when coming into office, not only honoured, but often amplified it.

So why, in our much more complex world, can we not build council houses and assist debt-ridden students? There is a world of difference between compassionate One-nation Conservatism, and the failed and brutal nostrums of Marxism. Dr Allan Chapman

Wadham College, Oxford

SIR – Mrs May’s weakness (like Gordon Brown’s) stems from her “coronation” as Conservative Party leader, in place of an election. It is vital that her successor be elected after a full debate at the hustings.

It was because Mrs May’s policy ideas were not challenged inside the Conservative Party that they failed when presented at the subsequent general election. Rodney Atkinson

Stocksfield, Northumberland

SIR – What is it in the psyche of prime ministers that prevents them from realising their time is up so that they can retire with dignity? Richard Coulson

Chatham, Kent

SIR – Napoleon said that he needed “lucky generals”. Sadly, though the Prime Minister is a very pleasant and honest person, she is not lucky, and Britain needs a lucky general now. Peter Booth

Altrincham, Cheshire

SIR – The surprise announcement here in Australia that a federal politician is quitting Parliament in order to form a new party is particularly relevant to Britain at the moment, with the Government in a shambles.

Nick Xenophon, who has been sitting as an independent in Canberra, has made a statement that applies as aptly to Britain as to Australia: “This Government deserves to lose and the Opposition does not deserve to win.”

This is true of both countries at the moment and would make a perfect, if rather lengthy, motto for the new party that Xenophon is forming in South Australia. Noreen J Pryor

Yandina, Queeensland, Australia

SIR – We cannot go on like this. Whatever the qualities of Theresa May (and I fully accept that they may be manifold), she does not have the personality to be a successful Prime Minister and should resign for the good of party and country.

Notwithstanding that he is loathed by much of the party and establishment (like Winston Churchill) Boris Johnson is the only possible candidate with the requisite vision and characteristics and should be appointed forthwith. W J Foden

Leamington Spa, Warwickshire

SIR – It has been obvious since the general election that Theresa May’s authority is terminally diminished.

Her response to the Grenfell Tower fire initially lacked empathy. Her pre-conference declaration that she would fight the next election was ill-judged. Her conference speech lacked vision even without the calamities of its delivery.

I can recall no leading politician who has fallen from grace so quickly – except perhaps Sir Anthony Eden.

The Conservative parliamentary party must ensure that Mrs May is gone by Christmas but avoid a leadership contest at all costs. This will ensure that unrepresentative Tory activists like me do not decide who will be the next prime minister.

Mrs May’s replacement must command the widest possible support of Tory MPS – a shrewd, authoritative, confident and respected figure who is an articulate advocate of mainstream Conservatism and capable of landing punches on Labour. Step forward, Sir Michael Fallon. Philip Duly

Haslemere, Surrey