I read with interest but no surprise the hysterical Brextremist comments by Richard Drax in your paper.

In common with many others of his ilk, he appears to think he speaks for the nation and to know what was in the minds of voters at the referendum.

He does not. I seriously doubt anybody, pro or anti, had any idea how chaotic the process would be, despite the lies on the side of the bus and the wild promises made by the extremists in charge of the Brexit campaign.

There is a respectable case for Brexit, based on retaking sovereignty, and many middle of the road people such as I recognise and accept this.

We also however recognise that the hard, ideologically pure Brexit sought by such extremists as Farage, Johnson and Mr Rees-Mogg, would cause considerable short and medium term chaos and disruption to the lives of millions of people and this would include considerable economic damage including substantial job losses.

Although not the jobs of the extremist charlatans, of course.

What the prime minister and her team appear to have achieved so far is a deal which minimises financial disruption and creates the likelihood of us achieving a real measure of independence in years to come, including control of our laws immigration waters and money. This is an achievement.

The fact that for some time we must remain closely aligned to the EU is sensible given that it is by a huge distance our largest trading partner.

The deal of course has yet to get through Parliament, and if the Hard Brexiteers manage to stop it then the outcome I believe will be a second referendum.

The ERG wing of the Tory party and its fellow travellers think that they represent the nation, but they don’t.

They are however highly vocal and disruptive and have caused a great deal of damage to this country.

Just as the country punished the Tories at the end of the Second World War even though Churchill was a national hero, I believe that the massive group of quiet people in the middle ground of this country will, come the next election, remember this chaos and know whom to blame for it.

If there was actually a decent opposition party, the Tories would be toast.

PAUL COCKS

Greenhill, Weymouth