TIM HAMES is too hard on Michael Howard (Comment, November 15), who is clearly determined not to repeat the mistakes of a predecessor, who espoused “family values” while so many of his Government figured daily in the red tops. If senior politicians cannot be virtuous, let us at least expect them to be discreet. We might take note of a buffoon and laugh, but that is not to say that we would vote for him or his party.
Boris’s antics seem somewhat worse when we’re reminded that he is the father of four children. For Michael Howard to look the other way would be seen as condoning “playing away”. Might it be that Boris the loveable bumbler isn’t so loveable after all?
Anselm Kuhn, Stevenage, Hertforshire
Must try harder
YOUR Comment headline “Boris, you deserved better” should be replaced with “Conservatives, you should have done better”.
As a lifelong Tory voter, I am appalled that Michael Howard is the leader. He has no political judgment, no new ideas and is totally out of touch with the electorate. Instead of trying to reclaim the middle ground that new Labour has won, the Conservatives should be going back to the right-wing values that people voted for in the Seventies and Eighties. At least the voters would have a choice.
Boris Johnson, on the other hand, is a national treasure. Yes, he puts his foot in it, but a lot of what he says is true.
While Michael Howard is at the helm, the Tory ship will simply become unseaworthy.
Roger Barber, London SE25
He’ll be back
IT IS depressing that, yet again, the British media’s prurience and double standards have focused on a rare creature — a likeable, intelligent, potentially electable Tory. As Tim Hames rightly points out, most adults acknowledge that being economical with the verité in the interests of protecting a wife and, more importantly, children, is forgivable. Doubtless Boris will be back. Life would be duller without him. And Petronella Wyatt really should have a firm word with her mother.
Sue Stapely, London SW1
Suffer the children
TIM HAMES rightly draws attention to the feelings and interests of Mrs Johnson and their four children in his report of the latest Boris fiasco. But the recently aborted child doesn’t seem to have merited any sympathy at all. It has mine.
Josephine Quintavalle, London SW3
Shades of grey
I FULLY agree with Tim Hames. The Conservative leadership, and Michael Howard in particular, have treated Boris Johnson badly. He showed them all up as being grey suits, just like those seen in John Major’s day. It was a great pleasure to see a personality back in the Shadow Cabinet.
The sooner we have Boris back, and the Conservatives find more like him, the better. As a Conservative voter for more than 40 years, I feel that at the moment they are an uninspiring party.
Bob Pow, Stockport
Don’t rush to judge
IN MANY situations, adultery may be a bad reflection on a person’s character. On the other hand, it might be an understandable response to emotional pressures in other areas of that person’s life.
We can never be sure of the full circumstances, and so we should not rush to any judgment on the lapses of public figures.
Bob Yule, London E14
A question of truth
BORIS JOHNSON denies misleading Michael Howard. Does he deny misleading his constituents by promising, as a prospective candidate, that he would live in the constituency? Does he deny promising to give up his editorship of the Spectator in order to concentrate his energies on the Henley-on-Thames constituency?
Yvonne Kedge, Sonning Common, Oxfordshire
Stuff and nonsense
AS FAR as I know, The Times has no wish to assist the Conservative Party, so Tim Hames’s advice is immediately suspect. He really has written tendentious tosh (as Boris would put it) about the hubbub over Johnson’s messed-up life.
Johnson has acted like a clown blowing a very uncertain trumpet. Howard was right to move him from the shadow front bench.
J. Findlater, Silverdale, Lancashire
Winning formula
OF COURSE Michael Howard was right to sack Boris Johnson. The Conservative Party does not wish to be re-elected as the government of this country, and Boris is the one person in the party who provides any sparkle or enthusiasm. He had to go, otherwise some people might vote Conservative.
Nicholas Russell, Cambridge
Pot? Kettle?
HOW can Michael Howard have the nerve to sack Boris Johnson? For Howard’s wife was married to someone else when they got together, and it is hypocritical for him to adopt any kind of moral stance on the issue.
Tim Mickleburgh, Grimsby
Flawed greatness
SOME of our greatest historical figures have been adulterers. Regrettably, the days have vanished when an ability to do the job in hand came first, a discreet tolerance being observed for private vices. The tabloid press has seen to that.
The logical offshoot is the appearance of squeaky clean, lightweight bores, to wit Blair, Howard and Kennedy.
David Taylor, Leeds
A wife’s prerogative
WHY does Jonathan Gornall (T2, November 16) make the assumption that Mrs Johnson didn’t know? I think it’s highly unlikely. Lots of wives turn a blind eye in situations like this, believing that that is the most sensible thing to do. There’s always an assumption that the wronged wife is a hurt innocent. Real married life is much more complicated.
Kate Thompson, Oxford
Look North
HAS it been forgotten that Boris Johnson made a fool of himself and his party in Liverpool less than a month ago? For his party to win an election they will have to win seats in northern cities from which they have almost disappeared, as they have in Scotland. This may not be very obvious to the Conservatives of Henley-on- Thames.
Dale Barton, st.barton@ukonline.co.uk
Marriage-breakers
THE real problem is not so much if Boris Johnson can be trusted, but why there seems to be a never-ending supply of women who will quite happily sleep with a married man with four children. They are content to render one wife and family miserable, while bleating that they were promised marriage, so it is therefore all the man’s fault. If this is sisterhood, forget it.
Maureen Thornton, Dalkeith, Midlothian
Rhyme and reason
IN 1963, John Profumo, the Minister of War, had to resign, not specifically because he had committed adultery with Christine Keeler (who was also involved with an officer at the Russian Embassy, and therefore a security risk) but because he had lied to the Commons. A limerick went the rounds, which I adapt here: If Boris more candid had been/ No scowl would have crossed Michael’s mien/ To lie in the nude/ Is certainly rude/ But to lie to your boss is obscene.
John Graham, London W9
