IN his excellent letter (July 25) Douglas R Mayer advises Ruth Davidson to "watch her back" but I doubt very much if Ms Davidson would have lifted her head above the parapet to criticise the Prime Minister boss (“May told to lead or lose as Davidson plays Scots power card”, The Herald, July 24) without being cheered on, and given certain guarantees, by senior Westminster Establishment Conservatives. It also seems most unlikely that it was only after the General Election that Ms Davidson's opinion of Theresa May should slump from hero to zero, especially given that during the election campaign Tory party leaflets in Scotland made virtually no mention of Mrs May, describing Tory hopefuls as "Ruth Davidson's candidate" in the various constituencies.

It is becoming clearer by the day that Ms Davidson, realising that she has nil chance of ever becoming First Minister of Scotland, has swivelled her sights from Bute House to Downing Street. "Lead or lose" might be a good name for a TV quiz show, but there is nothing entertaining in the prospect of Ms Davidson, Remainer turned Brexiter, ending up in Number 10, complete with her chameleon-changing principles and "banging the drum for Conservatism".

Ruth Marr,

99 Grampian Road,

Stirling.

OH dear. During the General Election, the Tories campaigned with the exhortation to vote for Theresa May for strong government.

Now, within a few weeks of the election, we have Oor Ruth demanding strong leadership from her boss.

This is clearly a case of deception, failure or both.

David Hay,

12 Victoria Park, Minard, Argyll.

DAVID Torrance (“Nationalists failing to use their heads over fairness of Barnett”, The Herald, July 24) takes some time and column inches to argue that the Conservative Government was entitled, by precedent and interpretation of the Barnett Formula, to obtain support from the DUP in return, amongst other things, for £1 billion for Northern Ireland projects without making equivalent offers to other parts of the UK.

He directed most of these points against the Scottish Government’s complaint of unfairness.

In doing so, he has surely missed the main problem: the DUP deal is “murky politics” at its murkiest: buying votes in the worst traditions of rotten borough corruption, a dangerous, possibly final straw for an electorate already sickened by most aspects of the current Westminster mess.

Frances McKie,

20 Ash Hill, Evanton, Ross-shire.