Prime Minister may still be a Remainer at heart but believes in being pragmatic
As a consistent Europhile Remainer, it is not surprising that I find Brian Monteith’s article in The Scotsman of 16 July (“If May doesn’t go, she must be removed – or voters will remove Tories”) to be a curate’s egg of Brexiteer wishful thinking and accurate observations.
Three hundred words is too few to go into the details of the former but the latter includes his support for those who regard the white paper as worse than either Brexit or EU membership.
It is also only too obvious that the proposals in the white paper were cobbled together with one main aim – to retain the Conservative Party’s hold on power regardless of our real national interest.
Much the same applied to David Cameron’s decision to run the Brexit referendum in the first place, to his resignation, to the Conservative Party’s decision to choose a replacement Prime Minister without first seeking the approval of the electorate and to Theresa May’s later decision to call a general election because she was wrongly convinced that her party would gain enough seats to make her life easier.
However, none of this excuses Mr Monteith’s vitriolic and discourteous attack on Mrs May for her efforts to keep on with this consistent, if misguided and undemocratic, aim. Yes, she probably is at heart still a Remainer but unfortunately, like too many – but not all – of today’s politicians, she appears to believe in the probity of such a pragmatic aim.
Further evidence of this is the decision, as reported by the BBC, to accept the amendment put forward by the Brexiteers.
This, again done for reasons of party unity, would have the effect of making a poor fudge even worse, if only because, by precluding the UK from collecting EU tariffs, it will surely reignite the Irish border issue that just might have been damped down by the present proposals
MORLEY SEWELL Liberton Road, Edinburgh
Thailand is a Third World country that has now won the admiration of the world by what it has just achieved through excellent teamwork, organisation and courage. The UK is a leading Western country that is becoming a world laughing-stock because of its lack of teamwork, organisation and courage as it prepares to become a vassal state to the EU.
The citizens of Thailand must be very proud of their country today. It’s a pity that the same can not be said of us the British people.
KEN SHUTTLEWORTH
Bricket Wood, St Albans