John Profumo resigned for lying to Parliament over Christine Keeler affair, why won’t Boris Johnson? – Yorkshire Post Letters

From: John Rayner, North Ferriby.
File photo dated 19/06/63 of John Profumo. It is nearly 60 years since Profumo, Secretary of State for War, lied in the House of Commons about having an affair with the call girl Christine Keeler.File photo dated 19/06/63 of John Profumo. It is nearly 60 years since Profumo, Secretary of State for War, lied in the House of Commons about having an affair with the call girl Christine Keeler.
File photo dated 19/06/63 of John Profumo. It is nearly 60 years since Profumo, Secretary of State for War, lied in the House of Commons about having an affair with the call girl Christine Keeler.

THE continuing obfuscation and delaying tactics by the Prime Minister in the aftermath of the ‘Sue Gray Update’ are nothing short of astonishing.

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It is surely a sad reflection on the entire Conservative Party hierarchy, and its Parliamentary cohort in particular, that there is so far no competent and acceptable figure identified to replace Boris Johnson, so that the Government and the 
country can move forward 
from this appalling episode.

File photo dated 22/07/63 of Christine Keeler. It is nearly 60 years since John Profumo, Secretary of State for War, lied in the House of Commons about having an affair with Miss Keeler.File photo dated 22/07/63 of Christine Keeler. It is nearly 60 years since John Profumo, Secretary of State for War, lied in the House of Commons about having an affair with Miss Keeler.
File photo dated 22/07/63 of Christine Keeler. It is nearly 60 years since John Profumo, Secretary of State for War, lied in the House of Commons about having an affair with Miss Keeler.

Apologists for the man, 
who shamelessly likes to 
model himself on Winston Churchill, seem to believe that ‘anyone can make a mistake’, he was ‘ambushed by cake’ and other trivialising comments which entirely overlook the 
full extent of the problems exposed since last 
December.

Such commentators should consider that one mistake may indeed be forgivable, but repeated denial and dissembling in the face of mounting evidence is reprehensible.

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John Profumo was not 
brought down in the 60s even primarily by his affair with Christine Keeler, who had associations with other men linked to the Russian Embassy, but because he denied it in Parliament.

Former model and showgirl Christine Keeler, famous for her affair with Conservative cabinet minister John Profumo and the ensuing scandal which it caused.Former model and showgirl Christine Keeler, famous for her affair with Conservative cabinet minister John Profumo and the ensuing scandal which it caused.
Former model and showgirl Christine Keeler, famous for her affair with Conservative cabinet minister John Profumo and the ensuing scandal which it caused.

Boris Johnson’s immediate difficulties may not each be comparable to Profumo, but he has not just the one, but very many to answer.

The cumulative effect is corrosive to democracy, and he should go.

From: Ken Cooke, Ilkley

THE Sue Gray report confirms what all sensible observers knew from the outset: that Boris Johnson is an inveterate fibber and an incompetent manager (The Yorkshire Post, February 1). The ‘outset’ however reaches back to the Brexit Leave campaign in 2016.

Should Boris Johnson resign for misleading Parliament over the 'partygate' scandal?Should Boris Johnson resign for misleading Parliament over the 'partygate' scandal?
Should Boris Johnson resign for misleading Parliament over the 'partygate' scandal?
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The Leave campaign was founded entirely on lies, cleverly constructed by ‘Barnard Castle eye-test’ Dominic Cummings, to scare voters from remaining in the EU. It was backed by the foreign owners of the popular British press and by hedge fund capitalists, such as Jacob Rees Mogg, with absolutely no regard for honest tax-paying citizens.

Their main interest lies in avoiding the new EU regulations on the use of tax havens to avoid properly contributing to our nation’s economy. In the 2019 election, the ‘Red Wall’ constituents and others were hoodwinked by these lies. It is high time to expose all the ‘Leave’ lies and reverse Brexit.

From: M P Laycock, Wheatlands Road East, Harrogate.

JOHN Cole (The Yorkshire Post, January 31) blames Boris Johnson for the disruption caused by the Northern Ireland Protocol. We should remember what made Boris agree to such outrageous terms.

He needed to get some sort of agreement with EU members in order to get permission from Jeremy Corbyn and his followers to hold a General Election to enable him to honour the result of our 2016 referendum.

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This severely handicapped him in his negotiations with EU leaders who were well aware of his difficulty and drove a hard bargain. That Protocol has one saving grace. Article 16 allows either party to set it aside if it is being found to be causing serious disruption. Such disruption has now occurred and Boris is now free to set it aside if he has the nerve to do so.

From: Robert Holland, Skipton Road, Cononley.

TO reduce poverty, we may agree that Universal Credit needs to be raised by £1,000. The Joseph Rowntree Trust says 1.8 million children are now “living in very deep poverty”. The Resolution Foundation says the new “cap” on fuel prices in April means 6.3 million or one in four households will suffer “fuel stress”. Many of us are concerned, but feel we cannot afford to pay more tax to help.

Government could raise taxes, says the Tory Bright Blue group, but from new sources. They suggest widening the new NI levy to include pensioners who still work and rental income of landlords. Other possible sources include capital gains tax at 18 per cent or more for the wealthier and a new inheritance tax.

The Bright Blue view is taxation should be “rebalanced from income associated with work and effort onto income associated with privilege and luck”. Ex-Tory Minister David Willetts said: “We may be taxing earnings too heavily relative to assets whose value has surged.” One question arises: Chancellor Rishi Sunak and his wife have exceptionally high capital assets. Will he be persuaded?

From: Ralph Lennard, Plantation Gardens, Leeds.

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ON TV earlier this week, I listened to the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Simon Clarke, confirming that the 1.25 per cent increase scheduled for April will “only” cost a person on average wages of £30k another £270 (£5 per week) a year.

He also said that we are all in this together and everyone must contribute to help towards the £400bn spent during the pandemic to keep the country going. The only people who will not contribute to this are those on benefits who were supported in full during the pandemic. Perhaps they should contribute a nominal 0.5 per cent reduction in their benefits? Then we are all in it together.

From: Peter Rickaby, West Park, Selby.

TAXES going up, increasing energy costs ignored, green levies to stay – I can only assume Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak have secretly joined the Lib Dems.

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