Sir, – As one of the 92,153 electors who cast a ballot for Boris Johnson for the Conservative leadership, I would like to make my own intentions clear.
Relatively few of us actually believe he will be a long-serving prime minister. His brash persona is not something that generally ages well in high office in the United Kingdom. He was chosen to serve one purpose – to win a general election. He was selected to be elected.
All the issues and delays of Brexit come down to one thing – the parliamentary arithmetic is simply horrendous.
The British electoral system is highly allergic to coalitions or minority governments, and the Brexit crisis could not have come at a worse time.
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Despite his divisive history and buffoonish native, Mr Johnson carries weight in the public’s imagination. He was largely responsible for the vote in favour of Brexit, so why would the Tory party not elect a vote-getter in such a politically fractious era? – Your, etc,
RONAN MURPHY,
London.
Sir, – It appears that Bojo has found his mojo. – Yours, etc,
FRANK BYRNE,
Terenure,
Dublin 6W.
Sir, – Evidence of Boris Johnson’s relentless ambition lies in a comment he made recently: “all politicians in the end are like crazed wasps in a jam jar, each individually convinced they’re going to make it”.
Despite the anxiety in Brussels and Dublin about how British politics has been allowed to descend into absurdity over Brexit and Johnson’s renewed insistence on leaving the EU by October 31st, no matter what, perhaps we can take some heart in the belief that there may be a level of support among his Tory party colleagues for someone other than Theresa May to take the EU withdrawal deal forward.
We live in hope. – Yours, etc,
MICHAEL CULLEN,
Sandycove,
Co Dublin.
Sir, – Despite the best efforts of RTÉ News and The Irish Times, Boris Johnson is now prime minister of Great Britain. You are gutted, it’s being said. – Yours, etc,
ROBERT
SULLIVAN,
Bantry,
Co Cork.
Sir, – Boris Johnson may act the clown, but a clown he is not. He is a clever man, as is Donald Trump. Cute hoors, we call them in Ireland. They have a goal and they know how to reach it. They do know how to conquer the media’s attention.
Now would you trust Boris to deliver Brexit for UK? Probably. Do I think Brexit is a good idea? Not really; for Ireland, at any rate, it is a disaster as we don’t have strong leadership at present. Did the British people vote for Brexit? Yes. Did Theresa May deliver? No. Was UK Labour divided on Brexit? Yes.
These are the issues we should be discussing rather than deriding these leaders’ hairdos. It gets us no further along the line in understanding what is happening in the real world of economic power-struggles, in which these two men are merely pawns. – Yours, etc,
NUALA NOLAN,
Galway.
Sir, – Your use of the metaphor “the keys to No 10” to headline comments on Boris Johnson’s ascent to the premiership of the UK may be unintentionally prescient (Letters, July 25th).
The famous shiny black door has no keyhole so Mr Johnson’s keys are likely to prove as useless as his “solution” to the Border question. – Yours, etc,
KEVIN
O’SULLIVAN,
Letterkenny,
Co Donegal.
A chara, – I have more confidence in the UK government convincing the US to move away from baseball and only play cricket by October 31st than I have in it negotiating a better deal that will maximise the opportunities of Brexit.
The silly season continues. – Is mise,
DERMOT
O’ROURKE,
Lucan,
Co Dublin.
Sir, – Kathy Sheridan writes that Winston Churchill became "a passionate advocate for a [European] union" ("Boris Johnson is already a modern-day Churchill", Opinion & Analysis, July 24th).
In truth, Churchill saw Great Britain not as a member of the new postwar Europe but as a friend and sponsor, as he made clear in his 1946 speech at the University of Zurich: “Therefore, I say to you, let Europe arise . . . Great Britain, the British Commonwealth of nations, mighty America and I trust Soviet Russia . . . must be the friends and sponsors of the new Europe and must champion its right to live. Therefore I say to you, ‘Let Europe arise!’” – Yours, etc,
Dr JOHN DOHERTY,
Gaoth Dobhair
Co Dhún na nGall.
Sir, - In comparing Boris Johnson to Sir Winston Churchill, Kathy Sheridan has done exactly what Mr Johnson has wanted all his life – to be discussed in the same breath as the “British Bulldog”. They are, however, incompatible. Before his elevation to the office of prime minister, Churchill had served as home secretary, first lord of the admiralty, minister of munitions, secretary of state for war, secretary of state for air and chancellor of the exchequer. Mr Johnson’s attempt at a biography of Churchill is a poorly disguised effort to compare himself to the former prime minister. And sadly it appears to have worked. – Yours, etc,
CHRIS OONAN,
Killester,
Dublin 5.
Sir, – Why is Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald, a Dublin TD, seeking an immediate meeting with the new British prime minister about Northern Ireland? Surely Sinn Féin’s seven MPs are well capable of articulating the party’s concerns in the Westminster parliament? – Yours, etc,
EUGENE
O’DONOVAN,
Ealing,
London.