Letters: Boris Johnson would be good company - but a bad prime minister

Sir - I was interested to see that our two New Forest MPs are backing Boris Johnson for PM. Their assessments of him are quite glowing and I cannot understand why.

My impression of him is that he could be congenial company at any meeting. However, he is the man who promoted the idea that £350m a week could go to the NHS if we left the EU; he has since been accused of misquoting that publicly available statistic.

He later bungled things as foreign secretary when he appeared on national television to say that Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe was in Iran to train journalists when it seems she was there to show her baby to her parents. Why did he say that when he did not have the facts?

He must lack any ability to understand; most thinking people realise that journalism is sensitive in a country being criticised by its neighbours. He seems to have no remorse for causing this poor lady having her sentence extended due to his blunder.

I notice that his lead point in his PM campaign is raising the line above which the higher tax level starts. Has he the slightest idea of its cost to the country?

I gather that he intends to pay for it out of a rise in national insurance contributions; surely any such increase should be honestly used to protect the NHS.

Finally, one of our MPs said he had done a good job as London mayor. I suggest he reads Boris’ biography on Wikipedia.

At this most difficult time in our history the country needs a PM who properly researches all the facts before making statements – what a contrast between Boris and Mrs Thatcher!

Geoff Pitts, New Milton