Why is Boris Johnson so afraid of the right wing of the Conservative Party?

Letters to the editor: our readers share their views. Please send your letters to letters@independent.co.uk

Boris Johnson (PA)

Yet again we are subject to obfuscation and deferral by this “too little, too late” government.

Last year, following similarly poor judgement over one day, namely Christmas Day, the NHS was put under crippling pressure, but then people had not been mixing, so the usual level of influenza was absent. This year, with people already mixing as if life was back to normal, with NHS staff already absent in large numbers and with a variant that spreads up to five times as fast, this is no time for vacillation.

If the NHS is overwhelmed following the superspreader event of Christmas, then it will be entirely down to the government and its rank cowardice in facing up to the dogmatic right wing of the Conservative Party. This unholy alliance, having damaged the nation in terms of Brexit, now threatens the NHS and may cause many thousands of unnecessary deaths. The Conservative Party, which succours this dogma, is responsible and must be held accountable at the ballot box at every opportunity.