LAST night (June 18) saw the long-awaited, so-called BBC debate, featuring the Infamous Five climbing all over each other to get to No 10 at all costs (“Stewart feels the heat for ruling out no-deal Brexit”, The Herald, June 19). Those of us who expected evasion, pretension and unqualified promises, were not disappointed in our expectation, but were yet again dismayed at the very low standard of debate and absence of truth and honesty. Not one question put by members of the public was addressed or answered appropriately, but each one was evaded, particularly when it held a challenge.
Boris Johnson for example, true to form, ducked the questions of his declared tax relief for the very rich, along with the challenge that “words have consequences” put by the Imam, to which at one point he declared that whatever offensive remarks he had made as a journalist had no effect whatever on our relationship with British Muslims, or to our negotiations with the Middle East.
Nobody faced up to the Irish Backstop question, put by a native Ulsterman, but all seemed to agree, if only by omission, that we should get out of Europe first and worry about border details later. Totally unsatisfactory and irresponsible, but again not too surprising.
The only conclusion to draw from this circus is that not one of these candidates is fit for purpose, but worse still, all of them strung together would not make an adequate PM.
I am no particular admirer of Theresa May, but I do think that she made the most of an almost impossible set of circumstances. I wonder therefore if, whoever lands the position of being her successor, turns out to be equally unsuccessful in achieving an acceptable Brexit, then will he respond to his own distasteful cry of “Resign”?
Ian Cooper, Bearsden.
FOR those who watched last night’s debate on BBC1, the impression that most viewers would have been left with is that the calibre of our politicians has hit rock bottom, given that the five candidates on show are considered to be the best of the best that we have in Government and that one of them will end up being our Prime Minister.
I perhaps excuse Rory Stewart who at least tried to be realistic in terms of the dreaded ongoing Brexit farce, pointing out that we cannot meet the current deadline of October 31, nor is it feasible to leave without a deal as Parliament would not sanction it; of course the EU has already stated ad nauseam that the Irish backstop is sacrosanct and it will not reopen negotiations on the deal already agreed which has so far been rejected by Parliament on three occasions.
I suppose what didn’t help the debate was the dreadful chairmanship of Emily Maitlis, who was completely out of her depth, was talked over repeatedly and whose attempted interventions were ignored.
James Martin, Bearsden.
NOW we know, after the debate last night. Boris Johnson is just a duffer, blustering, not brilliant, not even clever. There was no clarity of position or of mind. Nothing was added to the illusion that he is fit to lead the country and much removed: his personality has no connection with the Prime Minister of the country. We need a statesman, a man who can lead, who is the master of the questions and the details in the answer which must be expressed clearly and powerfully. Mr Johnson lost it tonight, he showed his true colours.
Who should it be? Michael Gove. He is honest and moral, has a track record of success in several departments and has the interest of the people at heart. Above all, he has a clear, decisive and original, organising, mind who can lead.
Mr Johnson is only interested in the Bullingdon set, the rest are plebs to him. He will stumble from one ill-thought-out idea to another. If elected, he will never deliver Brexit and will resign in a huff.
William Scott, Rothesay.
LIKE many others I watched the BBC debate involving the five candidates to be our next Prime Minister. What a complete and utter waste of airtime. Not only did the five numpties pretty well ignore the questions asked but their actual responses are wholly irrelevant. The general public has absolutely no say in this farce. We will have a PM foisted on us by the Conservative Party membership – a tiny and narrowly focused minority of the electorate. In the words of Private Frazer, “We’re doomed.”
Forbes Dunlop, Glasgow G13.
WHAT a pathetic performance. The only one of such a bad bunch who seemed to have any grasp of reality was Rory Stewart. I am not a Tory supporter but I thought his grasp of where we are and what we might need to change was believable. Please save us from the rest of the yes men.
Rab Neilson, Ayr.
RORY Stewart looked as if he had been smoking an opium pipe. He would have got my vote.
Joseph Fell, Glasgow.
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