NOW that Boris has been “elected” by 92,000 Tory members, 13 full Cabinet ministers and four other occasional members of the Cabinet have either been sacked or resigned and replaced with right-wing Brexiteers. These include Dominic Cummings, who was instrumental in putting the £350 million coming back to the NHS on the side of a bus, and Jacob Rees-Mogg, given his first job in Cabinet. To appoint Priti Patel as Home Secretary in spite of her past support of capital punishment, and her previous sacking for holding unofficial meetings, is beyond a bad joke.

Johnson has always regarded Scotland as “toxic” and has not helped himself in any way with his past vitriolic comments about the Scottish people. His “charm offensive” will not work as his past behaviour will not be forgotten.

All in all, this must be the time when we work towards our independence. We do not want him, this repellent English “Trump”, and we must prevent him at all costs from pulling us down into the abyss with England. Our new beginning as a country is just round the corner.

Susan Rowberry
Duns

THE House of Commons was definitely in holiday mood yesterday morning when Boris Johnson gave his first speech as PM. I did not listen to all of it – after all, what is the point of paying attention to a blast of rhetoric that probably wasn’t even written by him but by some of his minions, and when none of it can be believed? I felt a deal of sympathy for the USA when Donald Trump was elected. but then realised that (as the old saying has it) a country gets the government it deserves. What does that say about the UK?

The members of the Tory party have managed to foist upon the rest of us someone who is arrogant, is not a man of his word and who lies. That he now has the future of this country in his hands is a matter of immense regret to me. I am not in the first flush of youth by any means, but I would like to think that I will survive long enough to see Boris Johnson get his just deserts – defeat at a General Election at the very least.

Life would be even better if Scotland could regain its independence. Our government is sensible and compassionate and this country is a joy to live in, unlike the bleak existence so many folk will have to endure south of the Border.

Monica Wells
Deskford, Moray

CONGRATULATIONS on a excellent coverage of “Boris in Wonderland” (The National, July 25).

I find it difficult to believe that he thinks if the EU does not deliver on what he demands then he will just walk away and renege on the promise to pay an agreed leaving fee of £39 billion. Sadly this will have increased dramatically due to the fall in the value of sterling.

I would have thought that the EU’s most likely reaction would be to freeze all funding to current EU projects in the UK. I trust that this has all been thought through, and should this happen then provision will have been made to ensure that all the contractors involved continue to receive payment as normal.

In the real world this is essential, otherwise there could be a large number of bankruptcies.

It may well be that the new PM will earn the title of “Boris Titanic Johnson”.

Thomas L Inglis
Fintry

DOES Boris Johnson think that he will scare the European Union into capitulating to his whimsical scenario of getting a deal that breaches all the EU’s fundamental rules by appointing the hardest Brexiteer Cabinet he can muster?

If I were in Donald Tusk’s position I would ask Mr Johnson to apologise for all the lies he told about the EU before negotiating anything.

Mike Underwood
Linlithgow

I DECIDED to listen to Scottish Questions on Radio Scotland this week due to the current political circumstances.

I have never heard such a blatant disregard for a procedure that should be informative and interesting to the general public.

The level of noisy barracking made it difficult to hear either the questions or the answers, and the Speaker called MPs using such a convoluted tone that made it difficult to hear who was being called.

David Mundell, apart from avoiding answering the questions, was nearly drowned out by the baying and braying of the MPs who obviously did not want to address any of the issues raised. How these supposed representatives of the people justify such behaviour is beyond my ken.

Altogether the half hour, at goodness knows what cost in wages, was a complete waste of time. This shows how ill-served Scotland is at Westminster when the only time allocated to discussion of UK policy with a Scottish dimension is hijacked by people who think it clever to act like the inmates of an asylum.

I can only hope that the Scottish Parliament will rally and act on the fact that they are “equal partners” in the Union and demand that negotiations begin immediately for the dissolution of this heinous travesty of a Treaty.

David Neilson
Dumfries

PETERHEAD is the home of some very wealthy fishermen who feel that they should be even wealthier by obtaining ALL of the North Sea fish once they achieve their dream of Brexit.

Peterhead has voted in a Tory MP. Peterhead is the first, and normally the only, port of call for Westminster Tory ministers who want to wave the Union flag in Scotland. Peterhead is the BBC’s favourite place in Scotland when they want to sound out what “ordinary Scots” think about politics and independence.

For the sake of saving on travel expenses, do you think that the BBC should move their HQ to Peterhead?

Alasdair Forbes
Farr, Inverness-shire