Tories turn nasty in the scramble to replace May

Sadly the Guardian, along with other newspapers, has demonstrated in John Crace’s article that it does not understand the gender issues that so damage our society (The day the Maybot cracked, 25 May). No male prime minister would be nicknamed a robot for being single-minded and resilient. They would just be admired. But a woman who does not cry? She is a threat to the grey suits. “She should have cried more,” they shouted.

When at last she resigned and was emotional for a moment – every newspaper took the opportunity to find a picture of those tiny tearful seconds to slam on their front pages. At last she could be labelled as a weak and emotional woman. The grey-suited Tories win in the end and many others seem to enjoy the spectacle.
Allan Watson
London

• Theresa May could still leave a pivotal and positive legacy. I believe it is still in her power to revoke article 50; to announce that the world has changed since 2016, and that as the WTO has been made toothless by Trump et al, and European economies are under attack from China and the US, it is now in the UK’s national interest to collaborate inside the EU as the alternatives have become untenable.
Kimon Roussopoulos
Cambridge

• While correspondents are right to call for the future of the country to be decided by democracy rather than the 0.2% who are Tory party members, and to call for returning power to the people (eg Stuart Noyes, Letters, 25 May), let’s also remember that the Westminster establishment has spent the last three years obstructing the decision of 17.4 million voters in the biggest vote in Britain’s democratic history.
Christopher Clayton
Waverton, Cheshire

• I never vote Conservative and would not normally leap to the defence of a Tory prime minister. But I am appalled at the spectacle of those MPs most responsible for May’s “failure” to deliver Brexit deposing her and blaming her for what is the consequence of their own intransigence.

At least her diligently negotiated deal had the merit of being a compromise and was driven by a genuine sense of public duty and the national interest. So much for pious claims about democracy when her party cynically schemes to change their own rules in order to banish her. I am sickened at the unseemly rush with which, long before May had announced her resignation, numerous careerists were busy setting out theirs stalls in gleeful anticipation of her fall.
Peter Bell
York

• Martha Gill (Who should be the next Tory leader? theguardian.com, 25 May) picks Rory Stewart as her choice. Many of us beyond Tory ranks and therefore voteless, like myself, will agree. But I differ from her reason, choosing him because he is “clever”. Yes, he is that, but more; he has shown a kind of character and courage, a bit Churchillian, in fields other than politics. If in doubt, read his account of a solo midwinter walk from west to east through the centre of Afghanistan in The Places in Between.

We will need that kind of integrity, which Mrs May also showed, and a dash of imagination, to hold things together in the time ahead.

I can’t imagine any of the others causing me to switch from a Lib Dem identity, but he could.
John Ray
Hook, East Yorkshire

• In Dominic Raab’s announcement of his leadership bid he said: “I don’t want a WTO Brexit.” That can only be because he believes it would leave the UK in a worse position with regard to international trade than now. But he says he is nevertheless prepared to go down that route. So there you have it: a candidate to be prime minister who in his own words is willing to lead his country into a decline of international trade.
Michael Green
Winnersh, Berkshire

• Amid the extensive coverage of the views about Brexit expressed by the actual and potential candidates for the Tory leadership, I can find no evidence of them being called to account on the overwhelmingly most important issue facing this and other countries today.

When are the candidates going to be examined on their policies for addressing climate change? If the Guardian does not initiate this, who is going to?
Jenny Clemens
Hurstpierpoint, West Sussex

• The last four Tory prime ministers have all been destroyed by Europe: Thatcher (Geoffrey Howe); Major (Maastricht); Cameron (EU referendum) and May (Brexit). What are the odds on May’s successor being the fifth?
Derrick Cameron
Stoke-on-Trent

• Many of your correspondents (Letters, 25 May) assume that the next Tory leader will automatically become prime minister, whereas such a person will have to demonstrate that s/he has the support of the Commons.

It is most unlikely that a hardline Brexiteer would be able to command such support, prompting either an immediate general election or an invitation from the monarch to Jeremy Corbyn to try to form a government. What chance Johnson then?
Roy Boffy
Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands

• If Boris Johnson becomes the next prime minister, our sole consolation will be Marina Hyde’s ensuing column.
Helen Hughes
Rutherglen, South Lanarkshire

• I likewise object to Mr Johnson being called just Boris (Letters, 25 May). And anyway his real first name is Alexander. So perhaps the Guardian should call him “Boris, also known as Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson”.
Clare Addison
Marston, Oxfordshire

• As Nigel Farage seems to have been in control of the Conservative party for some years now and can be said to have determined policies on both the EU and immigration, perhaps he should put his name forward for the leadership contest. He already knows he can rely on the support of the party faithful.
Mandy Jackson
Maastricht, Netherlands

• Saturday’s front page had a photo of Theresa May in tears with the caption “Broken by Brexit”. Aren’t we all?
Diana Cairns
Edinburgh

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