Moderate Tories must take back control of party and save Conservatives from Boris Johnson – Yorkshire Post Letters

IT is a shame there are not more “pragmatic” Conservatives like Lord Timothy Kirkhope of Harrogate (A pragmatic Conservative hoping for a brighter future in the age of populism, The Yorkshire Post, January 29). We would not be in the mess we are if there were.

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They are still around, of course. Our national parent body, European Movement UK, is proud to have former Conservative Deputy Prime Minister Lord Michael Heseltine as its President. One of the leading pro-Europeans on the national stage is former Tory Attorney General Dominic Grieve.

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But Lord Heseltine and Mr Grieve appear to be among a minority to still hold opinions that would have been the majority pro-European, moderate Conservative Party stance for much of my lifetime.

As Lord Kirkhope says, Brexit has been the dividing issue for the party, with many pro-Europeans being pushed out or choosing to jump before the 2019 General Election. Leeds for Europe is not party political and there are many members whose affiliations – if they have any – I do not know. But anecdotally, few say they are members of today’s Conservative Party.

Leeds for Europe did organise a conference in the city centre a few years ago where a panel of speakers was chosen to reflect the breadth of party-political opinion. However, one of the Conservative representatives chose that moment to publicly cut up his party membership card, such was his disgust with the direction his party was heading!

I wonder how many of what Lord Kirkhope calls “small ‘c’ conservatives” have more discreetly done the same? Time to stand up and take back control of your party.

From: Brian Buckley, Viking Road, Bridlington.

I AM currently reading a book, Boris Johnson – The Gambler, and I came across some comments made by the former newspaper editor Max Hastings some 10 years ago.

“He (Boris) would be a wretched PM. He is not a man to be relied on, to trust or respect save as a superlative exhibitionist. He is bereft of judgement, loyalty and discretion.” Well there we are, from a man who knows him.

From: Henry Cobden, Ilkley.

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