This letter was received by the Wilts and Glos Standard

Dear Editor

A Weakened Democracy

When the Conservatives were in the doldrums following Suez and the departure of Eden, the Party turned to Harold Macmillan - "Supermac".

He held Office during the war and from 1951 to 1957 he was respectively Minister for Housing, Minister of Defence, Foreign Secretary and Chancellor of the Exchequer before becoming Prime Minister. Most notably, his tenure in Housing produced an amazing achievement by building 300,000 new houses a year ahead of target.

This politician was unflappable and entered Downing Street with a wealth of ministerial experience. He was a commanding orator with great humour and a great statesman on the world stage.

The country needs such a Conservative at the helm soon, but who is there in their ranks. Johnson, Rees-Mogg, Gove, Javid and Raab are simply not in the same league and lack those essential transferable skills. Other names that appear “floated” at this time such as Rudd, Leadsom, McVey and Mordaunt are, if true, presumptive on their part and farcical in the extreme.

The job in hand for the right person is not just PM and leader of the Party, it is equally important to rebuild the trust and respect of the electorate in the Parliamentary system of Government. Indeed, that leader needs to show those cowardly MP's of all colours that the people decided to leave the EU and that is the future they want.

The new PM through leadership and vision must be someone who can demonstrate that the electorate gave Parliament a wonderful opportunity for this nation to govern itself, to rebuild our trade throughout the world and to make our own laws and control our own borders.

Why would anyone enter politics simply to hand our country to another state.

Moving on, has the weakness in the Commons come about because of "Positive Discrimination" of candidates? Has this meant that weak people have been adopted as candidates and elected and those natural leaders of strength and vision excluded as a result to the detriment of democracy.

Is another major factor sadly due to parliament sitting in the mornings now, and that there is no time for the well experience titans of industry to do their duty, as they would, if time permitted, to become members.

Are too many MP's simply overpaid for what they are able to offer and are there too many with little more than the calibre of a parochial Town or Parish Councillor when so much more is desperately needed at a national level.

It seems much trivia emanates from the House of Commons.

The country has lost its way and a strong Prime Minister is needed.

We really need a latter day "Supermac" and that visionary is in the Conservative and Unionist Party - now is the time for that Politician to step forward.

Royston Gay

Cirencester