SIR - If bandwagon jumping was an Olympic sport our Prime Minister and his colleagues could win gold medals for England. Happily their efforts fell at the final fence and now instead of cheering them on they are offering false commiseration to the England team who they feel have let them down.

From all the bluster it was clear that Johnson, Sunak and the others were hoping for some reflected glory as well as selling their vision of a nation on the sunlit uplands as a post Brexit paradise. But with their expectations reduced to ashes they are getting out as fast as they can.

They have discovered that football is not the way to sell their idea of England; rather it is a game for oiks watched by oiks and not something that true Conservatives would bother with.

The rest of us however admire the commitment that the team showed to get as far as they did and should take what comfort they can from knowing that they did their best. As Pierre de Coubertin, founder of the modern Olympics, said of his games: 'The most important is not winning but taking part'.

Brian Holmans, Langley Road, Bingley