No to Reform
Sir: Perhaps because I have been candid about the Conservative party’s failures in office, I am mooted as being of interest to Reform by your political editor (‘14 questions for 2026’, 3 January). But acknowledging failures is not a prelude to defection; it is the necessary starting point of renewal. When Reform speaks of a ‘uniparty’, it implies that swapping politicians is enough. It is not. The crisis of the British state runs far deeper. Governments are in office, not power, because of the pernicious shift we have seen over the past 30 years from a political constitutionalism to a legal one. On immigration, human rights, energy policy, authority has been transferred from ministers accountable to parliament and the electorate to courts, regulators, quangos and other bodies beyond democratic control.
I was among those after the 2024 election who questioned whether the Conservatives truly grasped the scale of this problem. But my criticism no longer holds. The party conference commitments on the ECHR and the Climate Change Act mark a recognition that constitutional authority must be restored to parliament.
There is a tendency to think the Tories are dead. But the same was true of Ted Heath’s Conservatives, and the party proved then that it could change. It can, and is, changing again. While it’s nice to be (allegedly) wanted, it is not enough to be angry online – we need to be organised, serious and have a plan. That plan is now coming from the Conservative party under Kemi Badenoch’s leadership.
Jack Rankin (MP for Windsor)
House of Commons, London SW1
Bookie error
Sir: Undoubtedly Rupert Hawksley makes very good points: UK racing is indeed generally on the back foot (‘Don’t bet on it’, 3 January). A puritanical attitude to betting isn’t the full explanation however: bookmakers certainly don’t always help. The bureaucracy they have created, following guidelines but in a complicated way, can require showing bank statements and proof of an ability to bet. For a number of years punters have found it harder to have even a £5 bet online. A good friend of mine was recently asked by a bookmaker to show them his bank statements to withdraw £100 from his online account. Imagine having to show your bank statements at a supermarket when returning goods!
There are good signs, though. Recent bookmaker figures show the Grand National to be the most popular betting event in the UK, both last year and in 2024. This beats the Champions League final, American football and other seemingly popular events. It also beats buying a lottery ticket: it’s 97-1 to win £30 with a £2 lotto ticket. To win £30 with £2 on a horse, the odds have to be 15-1, vastly more in your favour. Attendances also rose over the Christmas period, a positive factor in a difficult scene.
Trevor Pitman
Beckenham, Kent
How to restore prosperity
Sir: The question in last week’s leading article of how to meet the challenge of restoring Britain’s prosperity (3 January) has a simple answer: a customs union with Europe. It would boost growth, restore confidence in bond markets and save billions in debt costs. It was not that long ago that Tory grandees such as Tom King, Michael Heseltine and John Gummer would have taken such a position. But with the hijacking by the Eurosceptics of that once great party, it is now up to those of us in another party to sing this hymn and fight this fight, and a good thing too.
Farms and other businesses that once freely exported to Europe have found those routes to economic success closed down, and it is time for Labour to take the advice of the Liberal Democrats and enter into a customs union with Europe.
Dr Brian Mathew
(MP for Melksham and Devizes)
House of Commons, London SW1
Carve up
Sir: A number of excellent articles in last week’s issue highlighted the parlous state of Britain’s economy and society. However, the best example of our current condition must surely be a member of the House of Lords needing to take a detour to claim the free meal offered by a Toby Carvery (No sacred cows, 3 January). The barbarians are definitely at the gate.
Richard List
Aylesbury, Bucks
Called forth
Sir: As a semi-retired Anglican clergyman, when I read Theo Hobson’s article ‘Holy order’ (3 January) I was left hoping there was something more to what motivated him than he disclosed. Who am I to judge, but perhaps the Bishops’ Selectors saw and heard a greater sense of God’s calling than was conveyed in the article?
Despite what he appears to want to avoid, Theo seems to be expressing a kind of agnostic fatalism, albeit in a meaningful cultural milieu. The article does not clearly identify a conviction in the ministry of Good News of the transforming and healing power of the grace of God in Jesus Christ. In an age when many people are seeking a deeper spiritual reality, the ministry we are called to share is the revelation of God in Christ. I wish him well and pray that the ‘edge’ he brings will be as described by St Paul in 1 Corinthians: the preaching of ‘Jesus Christ and him crucified’.
The Revd Anthony Oehring
Associate minister, St James Poole, and chaplain, HMP Guys Marsh
Gospel truths
Sir: It is amusing that James Stewart’s letter accusing The Spectator of biblical inaccuracy (3 January) should itself contain two large biblical inaccuracies. No, Mary Magdalene is not the person most mentioned across the four gospels, aside from Christ. That would be St Peter – and by a country mile. No, M.M. was not the only disciple to stick by Jesus at his crucifixion. What did poor St John the Beloved do to deserve such erasure?
Deirdre Wyllie
Dull, Perth and Kinross
Kitchen sink conviviality
Sir: ‘Washing up’, our father used to say, ‘consists of washing, drying and putting away’ (‘Notes on…’, 13-27 December). Allowing glass, cutlery and china to drip-dry leaves stains. Drying up cloths must be changed regularly. Putting away demands that plates go to the bottom of the stack so that the same ones are not always out. A symphony of clatter and chatter: washing up is convivial and encourages conversation.
James Bishop
Wincanton, Somerset
Remote access
Sir: Christopher Howse (‘Novel uses’, 13-27 December) offered examples of The Spectator’s enduring place infiction. To my knowledge, the novelist Molly Keane remains the only castaway on Desert Island Discs to have requested the magazine. When she appeared in 1990, her luxury was a bed, netted from snakes and flies, presumably in which to linger while reading her bound copy of Spectators from 1900 (her additional book). Even without any discs, it sounds like heaven.
Caroline Hopkinson-Woolley
Cambridge
Write to us letters@spectator.co.uk
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