DEAR Sir,

I fear you correspondents have fallen for the Partygate story! This is generously fuelled by the obsessive resentment of Dominic Cummings whom the media were so keen to defenestrate.

Boris is Boris but Boris is not THE problem. We face, with or without him, huge changes which require changes on our part. The sooner we all face up to this the better for this country, our children and our childrens’ children. Covid-19 has shown that our diffuse and very regulated system of governance with Quangos and highly centralised civil service is not fit for purpose let alone actual delivery of services. It lacks the skills sets for contracts for procurement, science and figures. Those with expertise from outside government when seconded in are frozen out by a club of closed minds.

Delivery of services is where government affects us most. It needs to be as local as possible.

Boris arrived at No10 with Cumming, both knowing this. The civil service knew they knew this. Their innate resistance to change was confirmed. ( Ministers come and Ministers go but ministries go on for ever at our expense with nice inflation proofed pensions) Within this resistance is a caucus who see themselves as Remainers and totally left liberal. To have Brexit and an 80 seat Conservative majority hits at the core of their identity and purpose.

To join the Partygate chorus as your correspondents do is playing into the latters’ hands. They are wedding to that European ideal of the top down authoritarian state in control of everything. It is not relevant a world where the whole economic balance is changing and Europe is on the periphery. Innovation and flexibility are what we need in order to survive.

Sadly it is so much easier to take the high moral position and protest. To have a very senior member of the Home Office lead the enquiry, is this not the civil service marking its own homework?

Boris may skate over life on a wing and a prayer/platitude but I fancy the same may well be said of many of his critics?!