AS a very long-standing member of the Labour Party who has been at umpteen meetings over the years, I can tell Rosemary Goring (“Labour at risk of falling into hands of bullies and thugs”, The Herald, July 26) that no matter what controversies arise business is discussed and voted on according to long-standing rules of conduct. Which is not to say that no-one ever feels angry or upset, but I'd say it is extremely rare for anyone to feel threatened. There have been such reports from a few, out of around 650 constituency parties. Such conduct should not and will not be tolerated.

If that was happening now, in your circulation area, I feel sure The Herald would know all about it. And I might mention that as a woman who had the honour of becoming a Labour MP, I have had disagreements but never with threats or intimidation. At any rate not from people in my own party.

Ms Goring relates the instance of Angela Eagle and the brick. I know Angela well, and praise her for the time she chaired Labour's national policy forum throughout which she made it much more genuinely representative of what the delegates said than any of her predecessors ever did. But I think she may be mistaken in supposing that brick was intended to threaten her. It was thrown through the window on the staircase of a building housing six offices, one of which is Angela's on the ground floor. There is a Labour poster in her window. It therefore seems to me quite likely that some passing hooligan was responsible, otherwise why not throw where it was intended?

But no-one, MP or otherwise, should be subjected to rape or death threats, or any kind of intimidation, and it is obviously a dreadful state of affairs that she and her staff have been made to feel unsafe. No-one throughout the Labour Party is defending that. But how is Jeremy Corbyn supposed to find all those guilty of such offences? If the police so far have not found more than one man threatening death following the murder of Jo Cox, how is anyone else supposed to? I for one would be glad to see some convictions, to know who they are, and if any are Labour Party members I can assure Ms Goring they are unlikely to remain so.

Maria Fyfe,

10 Ascot Avenue, Glasgow.

WHILE I usually enjoy Rosemary Goring's literary columns, her most recent commentary on the current state of the Labour Party should not be allowed to pass unchallenged. I gasped audibly at her assertion that "there has been nothing as unsettling as this in British politics since the days of Mosley's blackshirts" and find the comparison between the supporters of the current democratically elected leader of the Labour Party and a renegade 1930s fascist agitator unacceptable. Mr Corbyn may or may not be the leader to galvanise the British Parliament's primary party of opposition and may or may not be the man to lead it back into government, but he is, like it or not, the democratically elected leader of his party and it is entirely clear that he has been consistently undermined from within from the very moment of his election to that position.

It is also quite apparent that a large number of his own MPs have significantly mistimed their efforts to unseat him when they should have been acting collectively in the best interests of the country, and their blatant disregard for their own party's democratic traditions have dismayed and angered many.

While nobody would wish to condone threatening or intimidating behaviour, regardless of where it comes from, there is a growing hysteria around the whole issue and a level of wounded self-righteousness which, in itself, has simply become another tactic to be used against the party leadership. That, in itself, is unacceptable and articles such as the one offered by Rosemary Goring on this occasion do nothing to help an inflamed situation.

David Gray,

2 Caird Drive, Glasgow.

IF Kevin McKenna thinks that Labour Party members who intend voting against Jeremy Corbyn are doing so because they fear his particular brand of socialism, then he is wide of the mark (“You can smell fear of those out to stop Corbyn at all costs”, The Herald, July 23).

The reason many will vote against Mr Corbyn is to do with his woeful lack of leadership, which impacts directly on the ability of the Labour Party to be an effective opposition, as well as its likelihood of forming a future Government.

Leadership qualities include the ability to direct, guide and lead your organisation, in order to achieve effective outcomes; in Labour’s case, a majority at the ballot box. Leadership also requires one to empathise with many views, consider them, and, having done so, be able to make difficult decisions, communicating the reasons for doing so, in a way that takes the majority with you. I see none of these qualities in Mr Corbyn.

Granted, it must be very difficult, having been someone who has, for decades, been outside the tent, micturating on it, to suddenly find oneself inside. Mr Corbyn has yet to make that transformation from outsider to insider. He remains stuck on the fringes.

He lacks the strength, decision-making ability, charisma, and political nous to be leader, and; he is badly advised. He recently commented that people don’t like him. Well; get over it. Not being liked is a burden leaders sometimes have to bear. This isn't a popularity contest; it’s a leadership one.

Stuart Brennan,

37 Netherburn Avenue, Glasgow.