Letters | 23 May 2019

Nigel’s nakedness

Sir: Rod Liddle is right to be wary of the hubris that Nigel Farage, the Brexit party leader, is beginning to show (‘The Brexit party delusion’, 18 May). His wish to smash the mould of British politics clearly shows that he expects his disciples to follow him into the promised land. The Andrew Marr interview and a recent Question Time appearance showed that under close questioning Farage gets rattled and resorts to dismissing his opponents and shouting them down. When will the public realise that this emperor has no clothes?
Stan Labovitch

Windsor, Berks

Nato expansion

Sir: Alan Judd writes of the ‘allegedly broken promise not to enlarge Nato following the collapse of the Soviet Union’ (‘Disputes over Putin’, 18 May). Well, the promise, if given, has certainly been broken, as Nato’s current borders show.

The only remaining question is whether such promises were made. And they were. The question was resolved by the publication of declassified US, Soviet, German, British and French documents by the National Security Archive at George Washington University in December 2017, fully reported by the National Interest. These reveal clearly that the promises were repeatedly made, in broad terms which mean they are still applicable. Our foreign policy towards Russia would be far more effective if we acknowledged such things more readily.
Peter Hitchens

London W8

Educational resources

Sir: I am surprised your leading article suggests we should be angry about the fact that the poorest pupils in our schools get the worst exam results, considering that the main focus in education for years has been on ‘closing the gap’ between well-off and poor children. Substantially more time and money is spent on the latter (‘Mind the gap’, 18 May). It does seem reasonable, however, to ask why there is so little improvement given the efforts which have been made.