Les Bright, Alan Clark and Richard Carden respond to a piece by Polly Toynbee on the rise of the hard right in the Conservative movement
Drawing attention to the Tory party’s transformation from a traditional Conservative political party to a ragbag of dangerously self-interested diehards ought to be the focus of opposition to the government, rather than the irresponsible hedonism of Johnson, who looks unlikely to be leading the party into the next election.
Polly Toynbee rightly draws attention to the pervasive influence of Steve Baker MP (Fear for a party that sees Boris Johnson as too far to the left, 14 December). Opportunism, short-termism and entryism mean that a party whose leader described Ukip as “fruitcakes” and “closet racists” 15 years ago has now welcomed those same people, and also become a party where Baker and his ilk hold sway without taking any responsibility.
Les Bright
Exeter
