You suggest that MPs rather than party members should elect a party leader and prime minister (“This is not the way to choose Britain’s next prime minister”, FT View, August 16). A modified selection process could revive the requirement for ministerial by-elections. Winston Churchill lost such a contest in Manchester North West in 1908 when he was appointed President of the Board of Trade. He was later elected as the MP for Dundee.

A prime ministerial by-election would not change the outcome of the current contest but hustings might be more interesting than those involving Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak.

David Baulcombe
Norwich, Norfolk, UK