TO rationalise the endorsement of Sajid Javid by Ruth Davidson it is rewarding to think of the gain she anticipates.

None of the pretenders, with one exception, will deliver to the "Scottish” Tories an iota of genuine, reliable advantage to counter their dwindling support, a fate which is more than deserved. The exception is Javid. Relying on the truly die-hard Tory vote will bring no comfort to Ruth Davidson and her “second eleven” at Holyrood, which another General Election or referendum would emasculate. She needs an approach which could offer some gain, no matter how meagre.

Her position now, having been constant in her approval of Mrs May and her team, is transparent, her expectation being to attract some of his emotional support to her own “cause”. It is equally clear that should he win, Scotland will enjoy no resulting benefit, which to her will be an irrelevance.

The reality is that Scotland’s condition will not improve irrespective of who wins. Scotland can only lose, a situation which must now be identified as expectant of permanent change – for the better!

J Hamilton
Bearsden

SAJID Javid, the man who took his daughter on holiday to Australia while the Welsh steel industry crash and burned.

Sajid Javid, the man who told Scotland he would not give “permission” for indyref2 despite a democratically won mandate from the electorate of Scotland.

Sajid Javid, the man who would throw Northern Ireland under a bus in an attempt to bribe (for want of a better word) the Republic of Ireland into looking the other way on the Good Friday Agreement.

Sajid Javid, the man who would not be Home Secretary today had the immigration policy he presides over been applied to his parents.

Really, Ruth, this is the best you’ve got?

Iona Easton
Glasgow

ON June 18 the BBC will indulge us all in an evening of time travel as we are transported to a time before universal suffrage. Our televisions will beam “Our Next UK Prime Minister” into our living rooms, a grand Victorian misadventure in which 0.35% of the voting-age population will be allowed to find the information they need prior to answering that most vexing and consequential question, who shall be our next Prime Minister?

I don’t wish to dwell upon the social atavism that is manifesting itself in this charade, nor even upon the irony of this coming at a time when we are “taking back control”. What I do urge you all to do is submit questions to the BBC beseeching the candidates to explain if it is defensible that a total of 160,000 people, and no more, should have their say on the tone and direction of the greatest constitutional change of the last 40 years?

Iain Lawson
Edinburgh

INVITE your friends round on June 18 and tune into BBC Our [sic] Next Prime Minister. Draw the names out of a hat. Score a point each time one says “Brexit must be delivered”, “the will of the British people”, “our precious union”, “our closest ally”, “the war”, “control over our borders” and “our NHS is safe”. Don’t worry about playing with your friends who are ultra competitive. The result will be a draw.

Ian Richmond
Dumfries and Galloway

RICHARD Leonard has backed a second referendum on Brexit with the option added to remain.

Panic measure or not, it remains to be seen what he will say when challenged about what he will do if head office rejects it! Does he resign stating that the Scots have voted to remain and one must respect that? Or will he go even further and join indy2 as a result and make Labour in Scotland return to a true ILP?

Or will he meekly accept the diktat from down south and fall into line? After all, his party up here has no MEPs, a foretaste of things to come at Westminster, so does Labour up here really matter now to head office other than as mindless lobby fodder in the Commons?

John Edgar
Kilmaurs

IS Edward Davey really meaning to deliver on the Vow or are these more empty promises (LibDem hopeful says Vow has not been delivered, June 8)?

For a start there is no Scottish Liberal Democratic Party; the Scottish branch of the Liberal Democratic Party would take its orders as always from its London HQ.

He won’t work with either Brexit Tory or left-wing Labour who control the other two Unionist parties in Scotland, nor the independence-minded SNP and Scottish Green Party, so who is left to join in his negotiations?

The opportunistic LibDems can blithely enter coalitions with the Labour or Tory parties and equally happily support a second referendum for independence for the UK but not for Scotland.

Should there be a General Election and the Brexit Party need a coalition partner, the Lib Dems would probably again jettison any trifling pre-election promises made to the electorate and jump onto the wagon, grabbing any opportunity to share the reins of power.

John Jamieson
South Queensferry

I WOULD like to submit my entry for your “First 1966 of the Women’s World Cup Competition”.

BBC 1 coverage, Friday evening: “This is the eighth Women’s World Cup and the England men’s team won the eighth men’s event in 1966”. Halfway through the first minute. Hosts France vs South Korea.

I look forward to receiving my prize copy of The Great British Book of 1966 References, Vol VIII.

Ian Duff
Inverness