Letters: It is Corbyn, not Johnson, who is unsuitable to be PM

The records tell us that the IRA are held responsible for as many as 1,800 deaths and committed thousands of attacks over many years. How is it credible that someone who supported the IRA’s stance should be allowed anyway near the office of prime minister?

In Scotland alone, Jeremy Corbyn’s stance on Trident and his dubiety over the question of a second referendum are a threat to our security in themselves. How would an independent Scotland ever be able to defend itself? This is a question that neither the SNP nor anyone else has ever been able to give a convincing answer to.

Boris Johnson might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but he is clearly offering leadership and q way out of the political paralysis that this country has experienced in the last three years – Mr Corbyn has spent this time facilitating this paralysis and it would only continue under his proposed premiership; an unthinkable prospect.

I have no affiliation to any political party, but I know that the only option offering a clear way forward is Mr Johnson – it’s imperative that we recognise the dangers that the alternatives offer.

RB Pillar, Fenwick.

LIKE most, if not all, residents of Dunblane I was appalled to discover that Boris Johnson had previously made crass and completely insensitive comments about the awful tragedy in Dunblane in 1996.

In the aftermath of the tragedy residents of Dunblane initiated the Snowdrop Campaign to seek changes to UK gun laws. This campaign received widespread public support and was successful in achieving a complete ban in the private ownership of handguns in 1997. This was the same year that Mr Johnson was making his ridiculous claims comparing the confiscation of handguns to model train sets and stamp collections.

Not only do his comments demonstrate a complete lack of empathy with the plight of those such as Dr North and the other parents who lost their children in the Dunblane tragedy of 1996, but Mr Johnson seems deliberately to have gone out of his way to be grossly insensitive and downright offensive.

Mr Johnson is well known for his racist and homophobic comments as well as insulting single mothers, but I find his comments about the Dunblane tragedy to have lowered his standing in my eyes to depths that I had previously not thought possible. What is particularly telling in your article is the failure of the UK Conservative Party to respond to your reasonable request for comment on Mr Johnson’s article. What does this say about the nature of the modern Conservative Party that Mr Johnson professes to lead? Mr Johnson has lied consistently throughout this election campaign and avoided scrutiny wherever possible but it appears that even his own head office is unable to defend this latest outrage.

I would urge anyone with a moral conscience, and regardless of political affiliation, to demonstrate our support for Dr North and the other Dunblane parents by voting for any party other than the Tories on December 12. Only in this way will Mr Johnson perhaps get the message that his past misdeeds and offensive comments are the reason why he is indeed totally unsuitable to hold the position of Prime Minister.

John Smith, Dunblane.

HAVING driven through Dunblane on the day that a deranged gunman slaughtered those 16 innocent children and their teacher, I find it disgraceful that this sad issue should once again be highlighted on the front page of your newspaper. The relatives of those murdered must be devastated at being reminded of the horror that took place that day. The fact that the issue of Boris Johnson’s effusive comments made in his newspaper column some 22 years ago in respect of gun laws was clearly an attempt to discredit him and influence the electorate during the final few days of the election campaign, and to politicise it in this way is beyond the pale. The Labour-supporting site which highlighted his remarks must spend its time trawling through every column inch that Mr Johnson ever wrote when he was a journalist trying to sell newspapers. We all know he can be colourful with his language sometimes and I am the first to condemn some of his choice of phrases to make a point, but I do not believe for one minute that he means to cause offence and that in his heart he finds the appalling tragedy in Dunblane just as distressing as the rest of us.

Christopher H Jones, Giffnock.

AS this General Election campaign draws to an end, we are sadly witnessing a master class in the art of protecting and promoting Boris Johnson as the next Prime Minister of the UK. He has been carefully coached and managed by his team of advisers. He has been protected from the public and avoided challenging interviews. On the few occasions that he has been interviewed, Johnson repeatedly fails to answer any searching questions and simply talks over the interviewer.

Mendacity is not a personal characteristic to be admired and certainly not for a man who aspires to be a national leader. Yet we have in Mr Johnson a man who has consistently been “economical with the actuality” both as a journalist and now as a politician.

A quick check on the internet will confirm that Johnson has shamelessly lied about the EU; lied to Parliament; lied about his Withdrawal Agreement; lied about his party’s election manifesto pledges; lied about his political opponents and lied about his own personal conduct. How can such a flawed character be trusted with leading the Government of the UK? And how for that matter can Jackson Carlaw and his fellow Scottish Tories respect the integrity this man as their party leader?

Depressingly, opinion polls would suggest that Mr Johnson will become the next Prime Minister of the UK. What will be the consequences for our already tarnished international reputation?

Eric Melvin, Edinburgh EH10.

NICOLA Sturgeon has reiterated that Boris Johnson and Jeremy Corbyn are not fit to be Prime Minister. President Trump has been assessed the same way. Declaring leaders “unfit” to govern seems to be her default position.

At the end of this election campaign the social justice and “progressive” self-righteous of the First Minister is truly unbearable.

It would be easier to ask the First Minister who is fit to govern.

I’m sure allegations of unfitness to govern could be levelled at senior SNP MPs with several being embroiled in scandal, financial or otherwise.

Unless you agree with the narrow and singular vision of the SNP, then you are just another shade of “Torree” and if the leader of your chosen party is “unfit” to govern according to the First Minister of Scotland, then what does that tell us about her opinion of those who vote for them?

David Bone, Girvan.

THOSE of us who use public services in Scotland do not share Douglas Cowe’s view (Letters, December 9), as the latest widespread survey found that 82 per cent of people who actually use NHS Scotland are satisfied or very satisfied with the service they receive and the satisfaction with the quality of education among households who have a child of school age is even higher at 86 per cent.

The less well-off are grateful that the SNP has mitigated many of the draconian welfare policies introduced by the last Tory/LibDem coalition and the level of crime is much lower than elsewhere in the UK.

The NHS in Scotland is the best-performing in the UK, educational outcomes are improving as more pupils are achieving much better qualifications than in 2007 and many more going on to positive destinations when leaving school with record numbers from the poorest backgrounds getting a university place.

Thursday’s vote is not on independence but, in view of changed circumstances of being dragged out of the EU against our will, that we should have the opportunity to decide whether or not to choose Scotland’s future rather than have it determined by Boris Johnson.

Mary Thomas, Edinburgh EH11.

TODAY’S letter (December 9) from Alexander McKay is perhaps the most depressing thing I have read during this campaign.

A self-declared life-long socialist attempting to rationalise his agonising decision to vote Conservative in this election almost makes me weep.

Let’s see the extent to which Scotland is “torn apart” as he fears when the abhorrent right-wing Conservatives settle themselves into Downing Street for the next five years and unleash their demolition of all that we recognise and hold dear.

Withholding your vote, Mr McKay, would have been a far more honourable action than this terrible folly.

Dr Brenda Gillies, Newport on Tay.

DON Ferguson (Letters, December 9) may have been engaging in light-hearted banter when he asked if a confirmatory vote should be held if politicians are found to have lied to the electorate during a General Election campaign. This week’s General Election will be the 21st during my lifetime so they are by no means “once in a lifetime” events. Boris Johnson clearly wishes to disclaim any responsibility for the actions of previous Conservative administrations but more alert voters may have memory spans of more than 150 days.

Willie Maclean, Milngavie.

ALL the controversy over the General Election does not take the climate crisis into consideration. What we really need is a government of national unity, but don’t hold your breath.

Margaret Forbes, Kilmacolm.

Read more: Dunblane father: Boris Johnson is 'totally unsuitable' to be Prime Minister