Ukip may be a spent force, but the battle for Brexit remains to be won
SIR – I have been a member of the UK Independence Party since 2008. I joined because I believe that as a country we will, in the long term, be much better off outside the European Union, with control over our own laws, our trade and our borders.
Ukip has been a remarkable phenomenon, but is effectively a single-issue party. Yesterday I resigned from the party on account of the disgraceful behaviour and performance of its last two leaders. There are, however, many responsible members who should not be tarred with the same brush. They have worked hard to represent those who elected them.
I will continue to support the multiparty campaign group Leave.eu, which is striving to ensure that Brexit actually occurs. Dr Robert Cullen
Romney Marsh, Kent
SIR – Doesn’t Ukip’s leader, Henry Bolton, realise that if he tries to “drain the swamp” within the party (report, January 23), he will be the first down the plughole? David Fouracre
Napton-on-the-hill, Warwickshire
SIR – Theresa May and her crew of non-conservatives have shown that, even if Ukip ceases to exist, the country still desperately needs a new pro-brexit party to rise out of its ashes.
Nigel Farage was an outstanding orator, but he failed to build a party that would survive after his departure. If Jacob Rees-mogg has any integrity he will put country ahead of party, leave the Conservatives and join Mr Farage to form a new pro-brexit party. On no account, however, should Mr Farage be the party leader.
It can and must be done. The faint-hearted should remember that the year before Emmanuel Macron became president of France his own political party did not even exist. Richard Tracey
Dinan, Brittany, France SIR – I suspect that, like many conservatives, I would find it difficult to know where to put my cross in the event of an election.
Both the Tories and Labour have made themselves unelectable, while the Lib Dems and Ukip are totally irrelevant. Iain Gordon
Banstead, Surrey
SIR – Janet Clarke (Letters, January 18) made a good point about Ukip when she said: “like many other former Tories, I was a Thatcherite – the current party is a far cry from those days”.
The Tories won four elections in a row with manifestos focusing on Thatcherite policies of cutting waste and public spending, and reducing taxes. It is obvious that if the party wants to win elections again with a substantial majority, it must adopt a leader dedicated to pursuing policies that have proved highly popular and successful in the past. David Kilpatrick
St Albans, Hertfordshire