John Crace’s outstanding article about Nigel Farage (13 May) is rightly titled online as “a terrifying glimpse of our possible future”. It is quite conceivable that a collapsed Tory party could lead to Farage’s Brexit party gaining a 35%-40% vote share at the next general election, with its ultra-clear message of “Brexit betrayal”.
Our voting system means that widely distributed votes at a low vote share gain few or even no seats to reflect the millions of votes cast. (In the 2015 general election Ukip, with a 12.6% vote share, won one seat, or 0.15% of available seats.) But this ratio flips as the vote share nears 30%; a share approaching 40% could easily allow the Brexit party to command a Commons majority. Don’t say it can’t happen – we’ve seen 40% of US voters consistently support Trump. Prime minister Farage is a real risk.
At the time of writing, the bookmakers Ladbrokes, Coral and William Hill were offering odds of 8-1 for the Brexit party having the most seats at the next general election. Britain risks a populist takeover; politicians and the media have a heavy responsibility to expose the emptiness of Farage’s populism.
Dr Martin Treacy
Cardigan, Ceredigion
• I disagree with Nesrine Malik that challenging bigots by exposing them no longer works (Journal, 13 May). We need more journalists like Andrew Neil who can calmly expose the likes of Ben Shapiro for the vacuous charlatan he is.
As for Nigel Farage, events since the referendum have enabled people to more confidently confront him. Last week’s Question Time and Andrew Marr on Sunday showed that he can be undermined by a relentless interrogation of his wild claims. His tendency to shout down the opposition suggests he is rattled. The more the public see of this, the more they will realise that this tinpot emperor has no clothes.
Stan Labovitch
Windsor, Berkshire
• Join the debate – email guardian.letters@theguardian.com
• Read more Guardian letters – click here to visit gu.com/letters
• Do you have a photo you’d like to share with Guardian readers? Click here to upload it and we’ll publish the best submissions in the letters spread of our print edition
