If the Tories indulge in another bout of infighting, they will make themselves unelectable

SIR – Tory MPs are transporting us back to the 1990s, when infighting and scandals contributed to the destruction of the Conservative government, rendering the party unelectable and resulting in 13 years of Labour government.

If today’s Tories want to see another Labour government voted in next year, they are going about it the right way. Do they feel any responsibility for ensuring that they remain electable, or are they too interested in squabbling among themselves?

Sir Keir Starmer could well win power by default, with no real scrutiny of his policies, unless the Tories start to work together. Many may feel that it’s time to get rid of this Government – but would Labour really be a better alternative?

Don Hamilton
York

SIR – Self-interest has come to the fore once again in the Tory party. Have its MPs forgotten that they are here to serve the country? They like to imagine that they form a “broad church”, but at the moment they look fractious and disparate.

When they are this close to an election, they need unity; they will surely lose otherwise. But then I don’t believe they deserve to win the next election, and I say this having voted Conservative for over 50 years.

Peter Wickison
Driffield, East Yorkshire

SIR – In his latest dealings with Boris Johnson, Rishi Sunak has shown both courage and integrity.

He deserves voters’ respect for his principled stand.

Michael Allisstone
Chichester, West Sussex

SIR – The repeated assertion that there is “no proof” of Boris Johnson’s wrongdoing ignores the fact that, in the absence of “direct” evidence, juries frequently (and rightly) convict, having drawn an inference – a sure conclusion based on the evidence as a whole.

If the Commons Privileges Committee (which has a Conservative majority, including staunch Brexiteers) has decided in this way that Mr Johnson culpably misled Parliament, it was entitled to do so. In that case, he will not have been brought down by a conspiracy but by his own actions.

His Honour Charles Wide KC
Peterborough

SIR – In his resignation statement Mr Johnson said: “We must not be afraid to be a properly Conservative government.” This from the man who presided over the most authoritarian peacetime administration of either party in living memory.

Michael Brotherton
Chippenham, Wiltshire

SIR – The mess that this Government finds itself in can, in my opinion, be blamed largely on Michael Gove.

Had he not stabbed Boris Johnson in the back in the 2016 leadership contest, we would not have ended up with Theresa May as prime minister, and the resulting three years of missed opportunities. Instead Mr Johnson as prime minister (he would certainly have seen off Mrs May) would have got Brexit done sooner (and probably better) and the country would have moved on. The more united Conservative Party would have been better able to deal with the fallout from Covid, both financially and politically.

But, thanks in part to that treachery seven years ago, the Tories are in disarray and increasingly likely to lose the next election.

John Edmondson
Ferndown, Dorset

SIR – A vicar friend who is (as I am) a Boris supporter remarked to me that we should not judge Boris on his morals, but on his ability as a leader with the task of delivering the mandate of the public. He is a whale in a shoal of minnows and he will return.

Dr Daphne Pearson
Monmouth