Sir, – Am I alone in thinking the run up to the 2015 election comfortably outdoes all previous electioneering in its awfulness?

None of the so-called leaders seem to have learned the basic salesperson’s lesson. Trying to sell your product by knocking the competition doesn’t work. It loses you respect.

Our respect is one thing that our politicians need but squander by evasiveness; by failing to commit; by blatant electioneering; by convenient amnesia and by failing to provide either statesmanship or leadership.

Leadership is critical to success, as is understanding the business you’re in. None of the party leaders seems to understand that running “Great Britain plc” is like running a business. None have any experience of running a business – if they were potential recruits for the role a head-hunter wouldn’t even bother to interview them.

True leaders would understand that their supporters – that’s us – need to know their vision – what will our country look like in five year’s time, what’s in it for us, why go there and how will we know when we get there? Does anyone understand what their vision is?

Statesmanship would be about seeing the bigger picture. What is best for this country and its people, not what will keep me in power for as long as possible regardless?

I thought, for about two hours, after the coalition was announced at the last election that we were really going to see some statesmanship. Party politics put to one side in the drive to haul Britain out of the financial catastrophe it was in. But no, two hours later and we were back into points scoring and politicking.

The Westminster crowd need to get out more and start listening to the voters, not to their party supporters, not to the spin doctors. Most particularly in their rural constituencies because government these days is essentially urban with very little understanding of needs in the country, be they agricultural, environmental, transport, housing or health in no particular order. Congratulations to the local conservative party. They have shown their ignorance in spades by selecting someone to replace William Hague who seems to have working experience of few or none of these.

And will the shadow chancellor please start all his supposedly wise rhetoric about how to run the finances of the country by reminding us that he was a key member of the team that stuffed our finances in the first place?

R F LOMBARD

Gilling West, Richmond.