Dear Sir Desmond,
I hope this email finds you well. I imagine you have had a fairly long and intense day.
Along with so many of my fellow citizens, I have awaited with a mixture of fascination and horror the outcome of the Sue Gray investigation.
I have watched a succession of front and backbench MPs do more media time over the past 2 weeks than they have granted to the BBC or Channel 4 News for 2 *years*, to parrot the same tired lines their leader has proffered at the Dispatch Box for the last 2 sessions of PMQs: “we must await the outcome of Sue Gray’s report”… and so on… only for the can to be kicked yet further down the road by the sudden advent of a *police* investigation. (Which, to be fair, many of us have been demanding for a *long* time.)
And so to today’s Prime Ministerial Statement, and the sorry spectacle of the ensuing series of responses. You cannot have found it comfortable to sit immediately behind a previous Prime Minister, and to hear her call into question whether Mr Johnson either didn’t *understand* the rules he had told us about at so many covid briefings, or had believed himself to be *exempt*.
I wonder how you reacted to the sight of the Westminster SNP leader being forced to leave the Chamber for speaking the truth, on the basis of an outdated parliamentary tradition whose very foundation has been trampled under the repeated lies of the current Prime Minister.
As you can tell, I am furious at the parlous, pitiable state to which our country has been brought. And I am not even *mentioning* the B word, you will note (although the lies told in the build-up to the 2016 Referendum are the none-too distant cousins of the lies told to attempt to cover up the worst excesses of “PartyGate”…).
And so this brings me to the actual purpose of my latest email to you.
As my elected representative, please look me in the eye and tell me that you honestly believe the country to be in safe hands, under its current leader. You are a military man. You understand and appreciate qualities such as honour, integrity, selflessness and honesty…
I feel certain that you believe you can find these, and the other Nolan Principles, elsewhere within the ranks of your own parliamentary party. I can only pray that you are right, until such time as another party finds itself on the benches where you currently sit.
In the meantime, please examine your conscience, and your inbox, and do the right thing by the country, your constituents and (in the long run) your party. If you have not already done so, send your letter to Sir Graham… please. Tomorrow.
With my very best wishes,
Alex Bellars