Boris Johnson and the Rooseveltian fantasy | Letters

Readers are unimpressed by the prime minister's promise of 5bn to rebuild Britain

Yet again we have seen Boris Johnson compare himself to great statesmen of the past (How does Boris Johnson's new deal' compare with Franklin D Roosevelt's, 30 June). After Churchill, Johnson is now Franklin D Roosevelt reincarnated, but his proposed capital spending is a fraction of FDR's New Deal.

When London mayor, he claimed he was the capital's Pericles. Pericles built the Parthenon. Johnson presided over the mega loss-making ArcelorMittal Orbit and the barely used cable car. But there is one Periclean fact closer to home: the ancient statesman's policy allowed an outbreak of plague to run rampant through Athens - shades of Johnson's record on Covid-19? Given the twists, turns and double dealing of Johnson's career, if he is to claim a role model from history, surely it is Alcibiades.
Andrew Dismore
London assembly member for Barnet and Camden