Letter: Methods for electing a successor to John Smith

Sir: It was good to hear from John Major that he and John Smith were friends when not shouting at each other over the dispatch box, and that he deplores the confrontational nature of Commons debates.

Why, then, do we have to have that charade? The remedy is surely in the hands of the politicians. Would it not be a lasting tribute to John Smith if parliamentary debates from now on could be rational discussions of the policies, rather than the rowdy trading of insults that currently passes for debate? Perhaps politicians would then regain the respect of the voters that they at present so obviously lack.

Yours sincerely,

DAVID FOSTER

Whatfield,

Suffolk

14 May