Boris Johnson is proving that irony is not dead, after all

For once, we wake up this morning to good news!

It is hugely gratifying to hear that the Tories have been thrashed in the local elections.

I was further cheered by seeing two mayoral candidates, Ben Houchen and Sadiq Khan, taking their very nice dogs to the polling booths, presumably to show the public they are decent humans.

And then the cherry on the cake was the report that Boris Johnson, who actually introduced the controversial rule that personal ID must be shown when voting, forgot his own – and was turned away from the polling station! This was priceless. Irony is not dead after all.

There is something very British about this morning’s news – and I imagine there will be much smiling over the cornflakes.

Penny Little

Oxfordshire

How sickening (yet humorously ironic) that Boris Johnson, the Etonian who introduced voter ID – thus undermining free and fair elections – had to be turned away.

Did he not take advantage of the opportunity to read the advice on the government website or even the back of his polling card?

Come on! It’s time to ban the need for photo IDs. Just bring your polling card. Ask yourself how mature democracies in mainland Europe deal with this issue. After all, voter fraud in this country accounts for a minuscule percentage of all votes cast.

Chris Jackson

Merseyside

The hammering the Tories have received in recent elections is hardly surprising. Fourteen years of misgovernance have clearly worn away at their support.

While Rishi Sunak may try to hang on to Downing Street, the eventual outcome – a Labour government – is hardly in doubt.

That, in itself (of course) will not solve our deep-seated problems.

For real change – and particularly in light of recent events – we need:

Compared with the rather thin policy offerings we have had from Labour at the moment, the Lib Dems seem to have stronger and more fully considered policies on all these points. Let’s hope they are listened to!

Andrew McLuskey

Middlesex

So the SNP’s ranks – or about half of them – are closing in around John Swinney. The day before yesterday’s man is on course to succeed Humza Yousaf, which raises two questions.

Firstly, how could the largest party in Scotland not attract more candidates of genuine ability? The SNP cabinet is, in my opinion, a talent-free zone, with none of its members feeling up to the challenges that the Nicola Sturgeon-Yousaf era has bequeathed to the nation. The poisoned chalice Yousaf gladly grasped last year is even more toxic now.

Secondly, the image yesterday of a smiling Michael Matheson in the Holyrood chamber made me wonder whether this entire episode had not been concocted in order to deflect from the unfinished business that is his conduct over iPadgate. Holyrood’s corporate body reported in March 2024 that he had breached the MSPs’ Code of Conduct and his case was passed to the standards, procedures and public appointments committee.

Perhaps there will be a new first minister before that committee makes its decision, or perhaps the decision has already been kicked into very long grass.

Jill Stephenson

Glenlockhart Valley