Rishi Sunak did not have the qualities needed to be Prime Minister - Yorkshire Post Letters

I wish I could share the view expressed in The Yorkshire Post’s leader comment of March 6 that former PM Rishi Sunak “emanated all of the qualities that a Prime Minister requires”.

I would cite one controversial national issue where the necessity for a serving PM to put higher ideals before possible political gain could have revealed the qualities of a statesman in the holder of the highest office - but where for me Rishi Sunak failed the test.

Prime Ministers must respect parliamentary process and the constitution, and whatever one might think of the HS2 project, phase 2a of the project between West Midlands and Crewe had already passed all parliamentary stages and been given Royal Assent in February 2021.

And yet for overtly political reasons, PM Sunak – who of course had not become Prime Minister as a result of a vote by the people - used his 2023 party conference to overturn all the work and everything that had been agreed for this section of the line without reference to Parliament or the electorate.

The enormity of this decision concerning major national infrastructure was surely one where the people’s representatives - or a vote in a general election - should have been essential.

Of course when the people were given the opportunity to have their say on Rishi Sunak's prime ministerial qualities - well, we all know how that ended.