Letters: Where past PMs went wrong

Catalogue of disasters

Sir: Matthew Parris, in his article ‘The real cause of all the chaos’ (29 October), asks of our last three prime ministers: ‘What big thing did any of these unfortunate souls do wrong?’ In a spirit of helpfulness:

Mrs May: net zero by 2050, derisory defence spending.

Mr Johnson: hospital clearances, lockdown, vaccine mandates, derisory defence spending.

Ms Truss: tax cuts without public sector spending cuts.

As a consequence of these three, Britain is not so far away from having to go cap in hand to the IMF once more, and is again confronted by war in Europe as a result of the failure of conventional deterrence.

Tim Bidie

Harrogate, North Yorkshire

Poisoned Cup

Sir: Rod Liddle’s scathing commentary on Qatar’s hosting of the World Cup, ‘Playing at morality’ (29 October), overlooks the benefits of awarding such an event to regimes with which we are in fundamental disagreement. Just look at the progress in human rights in China since it hosted the Olympic Games (summer 2008, winter 2022) and Russia since its Winter Olympics (2014) and World Cup (2018). 

Bryan Matthews

Leigh-on-Sea, Essex

True sisters

Sir: I agree with Louise Perry’s analysis about the possible future of feminism (‘Radical tradition’, 29 October). To my surprise, as a gender-critical feminist and educationalist, I now find myself with more in common with my more conservative sisters of ‘middle England’ than many of those on the left. A hardened ideology has taken over and those who question it feel silenced or are vilified for speaking out.

Christine Crossley

Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire

Balfour’s faith

Sir: Charles Moore lists Balfour among prime ministers who ‘cannot unequivocally be described as Christian’ (Notes, 29 October). Yet at the end of his life Balfour wrote about his mother’s positive approach to scientific study – adding that ‘she never surrendered her own convictions as to the inestimable value of her central religious [Christian] beliefs’.