Letter: Poor calibre of politicians across all parties

I totally agree with him that there are many alternatives to the current Prime Minister, however, there is an adjective missing before the word alternatives - better.

Unfortunately in Parliament today we do not appear to have the calibre of politicians that we had years ago and that goes for all parties. If they are not from the worlds of law or finance they seem to be career politicians who have been in the game since studying PPE at university.

With a few exceptions they don't have much actual knowledge about life and how the poorer in society have to get by or at the other end of the scale, awareness of the stresses of manufacturing businesses where production, staffing and profit all have to be constantly balanced.

It's a lot easier to play fast and loose with the public's money than your own. Yes, Boris Johnson may have been economical with the truth, but from the expenses scandal outed in 2009 to the present day with MPs on both sides of the House being rather sparse on details about freebies and who is funding them, very few seem to see venality as something to lose sleep over at night.

There are no entrance exams to become a member of Parliament, just the skill of, pre-election day, making people believe that you care more about them than you care about yourself.

If there were strict criteria to get your bum on those green leather benches my original point would probably be proved beyond doubt. To be fair to politicians it is not all their fault.

As in other professions where trust and integrity are paramount, the people who come into them are what today's society provides and what may be acceptable moral standards nowadays were definitely not the norm when we had great statesmen who put the country and its people first. What we have today may not be great but there are some worrying alternatives waiting in the wings.

Paul Morley

Long Preston