Now Sir Kim Darroch is gone, the next UK ambassador might as well be appointed directly by Trump

Sir Kim Darroch has resigned as the UK’s ambassador in Washington after emails were leaked which revealed he thought President Trump’s administration was “dysfunctional”, “unpredictable”, “diplomatically clumsy and inept”, “incoherent” and “chaotic”.

Darroch’s assessment of Donald Trump was spot on. Trump reacted with a series of tweets which, among other things, called Darroch “stupid”. This is from a man who believes the Continental Army “took over the airports” from the British during the American Revolutionary War of the 1770s.

Darroch, much to the delight of Trump’s disciples here in the UK like Boris Johnson and Nigel Farage, has stepped down from his post. No doubt his replacement will be required to kiss Trump’s fetid rump as part of the initiation ceremony.

Sasha Simic
London N16

The danger we are all falling into is that of accepting the appalling behaviour and insults to our country by the present incumbent of the White House. Whilst there is no doubt that we will continue to enjoy a close relationship with the USA, we do not have to put up with insults to our government and country. If you do not stand up to bullies things get worse.

Boris Johnson’s craven approach to the situation reminds one of Chamberlain rather than the Churchill he vainly believes he resembles. The great man would not have put up with this from anyone.

Name supplied
Sussex

Out of spite, because Sir Kim Darroch had to resign anyway, Theresa May is rumoured to want to place another Remainer as the UK ambassador to the USA.

This Remainer caretaker prime minister is like chewing gum on the pavement, once there you cannot move it. The diplomat is Boris Johnson’s choice, Ms May, stop trying to rule the world.

When you have finally gone (roll on two weeks), sanity will return once the Remainers are out of Downing Street where they seem to have taken root because they think it’s a place they alone own. Wrong.

Sandra Haywood
Kirkby

It would seem that Boris Johnson has a reason for his strange hobby of making buses... so that he can throw people under them in his cavalier pursuit of his ambitions. Sir Kim Darroch has just joined Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe.

Juliet Lewis
Hereford

Any Labour supporter voting for Brexit needs to think again. It’s very likely that any Brexit, deal or no deal, will lead to Scottish independence and long-term Tory domination of what remains of the UK.

Do they really want that? Boris Johnson has already signalled the future direction – tax cuts for the wealthy and a further widening of the wealth gap, which is very likely what fuelled a lot of the pro-Brexit support in the first place.

Simon Watson
Worcestershire

Excellent letter (10 July), ending as it does with a call to action rather than complicit acceptance of our woeful decline. I would add that the greatest danger lies in the systematic erosion of objectivity and rational voices. Look to any dictatorship and see how those who check and balance the worst excesses of rampant totalitarianism are the first to be sidelined and then destroyed.

The judiciary have been made “enemies of the people”. Much of the media has been either neutered or taken over by the right. Professionals are seen as tiresome and “too much”. Those who understand global economics are marginalised and, now, the objective civil service is seen to be unreliable.

We need extended, logical and balanced debate but we are being reduced to sound bite politics, instantaneous opinion-forming, and politicians who shout down anyone who disagrees with them and bully those who oppose them into submission.

We are being willfully manipulated by dark forces within our country and in other lands that want to wrest power for themselves and their short-term ends while, as Greta Thunberg says, “our house is on fire”.

Abubakar N Kasim is right: “Wake up and get involved in politics.”

Graham Powell
Cirencester