‘Utterly confused’ Boris Johnson past his sell-by date

Sir, – It is disgraceful that our PM, mocked as “utterly confused” by Vladimir Putin for not being able to make a prearranged phone call because he was trying to extricate himself from the Westminster party scandal, has brought about ridicule on himself and by extension the UK.

Also, to make matters worse, the foreign secretary’s geographical blunder by saying “Britain was sending supplies to its Baltic allies across the Black Sea” has just allowed the Kremlin to pile more scorn on British politicians.

Is this then, during this very fragile and dangerous time for Europe, the leader we can rely on to help negotiate a settled outcome for Europe.

A man who made an internationally-binding post-brexit Treaty which he had no intention of keeping. A man who has been sacked from The Times and Daily Telegraph for lying. A man who was implicated in a plot to have journalist Stuart Collier, beaten up. A man whose illinformed utterances required Sir Keir Starmer to get police protection and caused Nazanin Zaghari-ratcliffe’s detention in Iraq to be extended. A man whose reputation is on the wane in Europe.

For El Pais in Spain, his “magic has vanished”. For Liberation in France, he is “the only actor in the Boris Johnson show – which is increasingly a flop”. In Germany, Der Spiegel asked how long can Britain last being governed “almost exclusively by defiant optimism?”.

No Boris Johnson you just will not do, you are past your sell-by date and it is time you are turned out into the bin of obscurity.

Ian Auchterlonie. Denoon Terrace, Dundee.