Thérèse Coffey does not think that the “majority of the public anyway is interested about some wallpaper or sofas or something like that” (Minister seeks to play down growing accusations of Tory sleaze, 27 April). Really? Try telling that to someone wholly dependant on universal credit and in desperate need of a cooker or a washing machine.
If the Department for Work and Pensions declines a budgeting loan, they have little other option but to take out high-interest credit. Either way, it has to be paid back, unlike the annual grant the occupants of No 11 are entitled to receive, equivalent to four years’ worth of the basic living allowance for a couple wholly dependant on benefits.
Mark Newbury
Farndale, Yorkshire
• I don’t care very much about who paid for Boris Johnson’s flat and who said what to who. I care a lot more about the tens of thousands of people who have died because of this man’s ignorance, arrogance and greed. The first duty of government is to protect its own citizens, and he has failed us. Thank goodness there’s going to be a formal investigation by the Electoral Commission now.
Yvonne Osman
Newark, Nottinghamshire
• Leaseholders have to pay for their own cladding despite the known risks involved and the awful tragedy of Grenfell Tower (Vote to protect leaseholders from cladding costs fails despite Tory rebellion, 28 April), but the prime minister’s flat is refurbished at enormous cost thanks to party donors. How can this be justified?
Veronica Edwards
Malvern, Worcestershire
• Emperor Vespasian, on being challenged about taking money from a dubious source is said to have replied, “Non olet pecunia” (Money does not stink). Is our allegedly classicist prime minister following Vespasian’s lead?
Geoff and Anne McQuillan
Aberdeen
• It may interest (and probably surprise) Boris Johnson to learn that the £58,000 cost of his flat refurbishment will buy you a perfectly reasonable three-bedroom family house in Hartlepool. Something for the voters of that town to ponder before the upcoming byelection. “Red wall” people versus regal wallpaper.
Andrew Ashley
Henllan, Ceredigion
• I do so agree with Rafael Behr (In the court of King Boris, only one thing is certain: this will all end badly, 28 April). I am currently rereading John le Carré’s A Perfect Spy and see a close fit between our prime minister and the book’s main character, Magnus Pym – son of a dodgy dad – who uses his dubious charm and supreme gifts for dissembling to betray his country. This will also end badly, but who knows what damage this man will inflict before it does?
Dr Bill Jones
Beverley, East Yorkshire
• I would welcome some advice from fellow readers on a point of etiquette. In the unlikely event of being introduced to the prime minister, how should one express due respect for the office and at the same time utter contempt for the office holder?
Paul Hill
Lincoln
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