PM ignored the grey vote – and paid the price
Diana deserves our respect
Back in April I had a letter published in The Mail on Sunday warning the Prime Minister not to be complacent over the thenforthcoming General Election, despite the polls predicting a Tory landslide.
Just over four months later and Theresa May has lost the Conservatives their majority, and last week you revealed how she ignored Sir Lynton Crosby’s warning that calling a snap Election was a ‘huge risk’.
One glaring error she made was to attack pensioners by proposing limits to winter fuel allowance and annual pension increases. This was not the way to win votes. I’m a lay person but feel I could have advised her better – and saved some Tory seats.
It’s clear that if you wish to win an Election, you need pensioners on board. They make up a large proportion of the electorate and are growing by the day.
It’s also key to take care of the youngsters, as Jeremy Corbyn promised he would, even though I think he knew he would not have to honour those promises because he would not win. If, in the foreseeable future, we get a Labour Government, would Mr Corbyn implement the When Princess Diana died, some people seemed more upset than if there had been a death in their own family. I found this distasteful – as Peter Hitchens did, stating so in his column last week.
However, Peter needs to remember that anyone who spreads joy and uses their public changes to tuition fees that were promised pre-Election? I suspect not. Martin Reading, Oldbury, West Midlands Your report about events leading up to the Election, and how Theresa May ignored her Australian guru Sir Lynton Crosby, has convinced me that she is Jeremy Corbyn’s best secret weapon. She should go now. R. Bennett, Cheltenham The ‘Wizard of Oz’ Sir Lynton Crosby hit the nail on the head with his prediction. We should learn from smart cookies like him. David Courtney, Weston-super-Mare profile to make people’s life’s better deserves to be recognised and their loss treated with respect.
Peter Bryant, Ramsgate, Kent Peter Hitchens’s article was brilliantly analytical, honest and very brave. Robert Evans, Birmingham Last Sunday’s lead story stated that Theresa May is ‘forced to rely on the Ulster Unionists to cling to power’. Wrong. It is the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) with whom she has done a deal – the Ulster Unionists are now without a single Westminster MP.
It will be interesting to see if the DUP continues that support should the Government proceed to reduce the number of MPs, which in Northern Ireland could see Sinn Fein overtake the DUP. Sir Bob Russell, former MP for Colchester If a week’s a long time in politics, then a month must be a lifetime. May, for instance, seems determined to go on for ever!
Vincent Hefter, Richmond