SOME MPs know more tricks than all the monkeys in Paignton Zoo. Two such that spring to mind are Peter Mandelson and John Prescott, who were both awarded with lordships, or is it peerages?

My bet is it won’t be long before we have another, say Lord David Laws, who escaped his expenses scandal by having the Commons doors closed on him for a paltry week. A few months in one of Her Majesty’s hotels would have been more appropriate.

Ken Holmes, Cliffe Common, Selby.

• I READ the letter from Mrs K Mullen (This was an insult to Blair and Brown, May 17) with considerable bemusement.

Those two paragons of virtue she writes about, Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, can’t be the same Blair and Brown so many people hold in such contempt, can they?

Multi-millionaire “socialist” Tony Blair, who lied to the British people and his own Government to take the country into an illegal war in Iraq. Then, not content with one highly dubious war, calmly oversees us going into another debacle in Afghanistan.

Now, having left Government, he is lionised by the ever-gullible Americans, who pour untold millions into his pockets. Some socialist.

Gordon Brown sold off billions of pounds-worth of our gold when the price was at its lowest ever. Some chancellor. Mr Brown who, since he was relieved of his command, has been seen in the House of Commons two or three times.

Blair and Brown, who both promised there would be a referendum on whether we should stay in the EU, then reneged on the promise.

Obviously, my Blair and Brown are different people.

Philip Roe, Roman Avenue South, Stamford Bridge.