Outoftouch

Iwonderhowpeoplefeelabout Britain's failure to provide any support to the exhausted Ukrainian refugees? Does it matter that Priti Patel misled Parliament repeatedly with claims that the UK was proactively involved? Surely nobody expects this government to be capable of providing exact accurate information on anything these days.

Boris Johnson can perhaps be thrown some slack. His literary mind quickly addresses problems by announcing “ten thousand saw I at a glance”. Precise detail was never his strong point.

But persistent lying and refusing to resign when found out, breaks with all previous British constitutional conventions. Does that matter? Were these conventions developed over time for a reason – to enforce some degree of integrity, to make government accountable, to reduce public cynicism for politicians, and to make demands of our leaders that they have a basic degree of caring about what happens to people?

How much caring does this government show in its response to Ukrainian refugees? How much caring will it show tomorrow when the country becomes engulfed in a cost of living crisis?

Somehow Boris Johnson has been out of touch with the wisdom that enshrined the importance of telling truth to Parliament which by and large previous administraa tions complied with. There is a danger, therefore, that all government ministers, when they appear in public, become subject to public cynicism. There is a danger that the public come to think that this administration has eroded the spirit of democracy. When that happens the Tory party will have reached the point of no return and their fate at the next election will be sealed. ANDREW VASS

Edinburgh