The Tories can win in former Labour strongholds if they stay true to blue-collar Conservatism

sir – It is claimed – by Nigel Farage, among others – that the Conservatives cannot win in former Labour strongholds, but this view is belied by the results of recent general elections.

In 2017 the Conservatives won the former mining seat of Mansfield for the first time since its creation in 1885. In Bishop Auckland, which sits in Labour’s fiefdom of County Durham and has never been represented by a Conservative, the Labour majority was reduced to 502 from over 10,000 as recently as 2005.

The Conservatives achieved their highest share of the working-class vote in 2017, a trend that is likely to continue if the party campaigns wisely on a platform of blue-collar Conservatism, promoting tax, welfare and social policies that reward aspiration and seek to raise the living standards of the lowest paid. Philip Duly

Haslemere, Surrey

sir – Leading Tories should have asked themselves a number of difficult questions before launching their assault on Nigel Farage and the Brexit Party (report, November 5).

First: why is it that government supporters are so divided on the merits of the Prime Minister’s Withdrawal Agreement? Opinions go from “fantastic” to “still 95 per cent rancid”, the latter appearing in an influential Tory-supporting article written by Gerald Warner in Reaction.

Secondly, how can it be that Boris Johnson’s deal, negotiated in the context of the Surrender Parliament, can be the best possible starting point for more discussions with the European Union, when he himself complained he was negotiating with one hand behind his back?

Thirdly, why is it that the No10 team – so keen to reset Theresa May’s Brexit policy when Mr Johnson succeeded – now resiles from doing so when it is finally free to do it?

Lastly, how can we reconcile the flip-flop behaviour of the European Research Group “Spartans”, who, in the last Parliament, put the Brexit mission above party loyalty, but are now acting as enforcers of party discipline?

The Tories are wedded to a prior position even though the chains that produced it have been smashed by the initiation of a general election. The Brexit Party’s position, by contrast, may be the rational one. As Maynard Keynes once said: “When the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do, sir?” Jeremy Hosking

London WC2

sir – If Dave Alsop (Letters, October 31) studies Boris Johnson’s Withdrawal Agreement Bill, he will find that it resembles closely Theresa May’s notorious deal, which Parliament rejected three times.

Mr Johnson now has five weeks in which to set out how he and his Bill will guarantee the return of our national sovereignty and complete independence from Brussels. If he cannot sell his plan to the electorate, Leave voters of all political hues will turn in droves to the only party promising unequivocally to deliver what they want: the Brexit Party.

Splitting the Tory vote in this way is likely to result once more in a hung Parliament, destroying our remaining credibility at home and abroad. I write as a normally committed, but very worried, Conservative. Michael Allisstone

Chichester, West Sussex

sir – How can any sensible person stand as a Brexit Party candidate? Surely they can see that they are likely to prevent Brexit occurring at all, as well as quite possibly bringing about a Marxist-led government. Sir Neville Trotter

Newcastle upon Tyne

sir – Whatever showing Alexander Waugh, the Brexit Party candidate for Bridgwater and West Somerset, makes in the polls (report, November 5), his grandfather would be horrified – Evelyn Waugh never voted. Paul Julings

Great Yarmouth, Norfolk