Sir – What exactly has happened to democracy in this country?

We have a new prime minister about to be elected by less than a quarter of a percentage point of the total population, all of whom are members of a political party which did very badly in the recent European elections.

This mini-electorate seems set to elect a man who based his EU referendum campaign on lies which he still refused to admit even when the lies were exposed as such, has no coherent policies to offer, has a very limited and, at best mixed, experience of holding government office.

And the last straw – Johnson seems willing to suspend Parliament to get a policy through that is based on an extremely confused referendum, that gave a tiny majority to this policy which it almost certainly no longer commands.

But, unlike Mrs May who is allowed to resubmit her failed policies repeatedly, we are not allowed to have a second referendum. (Actually, it would be a third – the first voted 2-1 in favour of continued membership in 1975.)

Has the world gone mad?

Alas, poor democracy, I knew it well.

John Redmond

Worcester