Constitutional crisis, cakeism and the Conservatives’ crazy thinking

Your editorial (This Tories-only election will install a prime minister with no credible mandate, 20 June) observes that the problem would “be awkward in less volatile times”. Volatility is not the problem. Let’s recall that Churchill faced catastrophe when he became prime minister. Within a week he told parliament he had nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat. Honesty made Churchill a great prime minister. Compare this with the fantasies being spun by the Tories. We can have our cake and eat it. With Brexit, forget about Christmas, it will all be over by Halloween. Thanks to Boris Johnson, imaginary money that was never sent to Europe can miraculously fund both the NHS and tax cuts for the rich. A constitutional crisis exists because the Tories’ promises ignore the real problems facing the country.
Dr John Young
Edinburgh

• I keep reading and hearing that the Conservative party is about to elect the next prime minister. This is more than somewhat misleading. The Queen appoints as PM the person thought to be able to command a majority in the House of Commons. As your leader went some way to admitting towards the end, it is by no means clear that any of the candidates could achieve that majority. There is a hung parliament, the present government is in power only by courtesy of the DUP, whose views do not seem to have been advertised, and some Tory MPs have said they could not support a government led by the likely winner of the current party election.
Robin M White
Dundee

• The poll that showed the madness of more than half the Conservative party membership willing to sacrifice the union, economic growth and even their own party, in order the achieve Brexit seems unbelievable (Martin Kettle, Journal, 20 June). But even more significant was the earlier poll that showed Johnson as the only Tory who would win an absolute majority (of 140 seats!) in a general election. That seems to me the reason why Johnson won such a majority of MPs’ votes and will be backed by the grassroots, even though many in both groups distrust him. So it would be in Johnson’s interests to call an election as soon as he becomes prime minister, and before the 31 October deadline. He could then face the disaster of a no-deal Brexit with equanimity.
Ralph Blumenau
London

• We are told of skulduggery by the Johnson team (It’s Johnson versus Hunt. But was the result fixed?, 21 June). As Hunt scraped in by only two votes, either the skulduggery was undertaken with remarkable finesse, or with utter incompetence, the required result courtesy of luck.
Peter Cave
London

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