As a Lib Dem canvassing in Maldon, talking to hundreds of constituents about John Whittingdale’s record gives a starkly different impression to that given by Alex Jennings (Letters, November 21).

Perhaps a handful gave him much credit for his dynamism as a constituency MP.

Most of those committed to voting Conservative at this stage do so through gritted teeth because they favour Brexit, not Mr Whittingdale, although he voted twice against his own Conservative Prime Minister’s Brexit Bill.

This impression of a complacent MP with a sense of entitlement is not surprising.

Like myself, Mr Jennings may have received an election flyer masquerading as an invitation to join “John Whittingdale’s Campaign to Make Maldon Constituency Safer”.

Most, I hope, will be flabbergasted by the sheer hypocrisy of it, also the dubious portrayal of local police officers for electoral gain.

As our sitting MP, he consistently voted for the austerity policies that have led to a decline of over 20,000 in police numbers since 2010, a fall of 19 per cent.

As Culture Secretary, he failed to give any teeth to the outcomes of the Leveson Inquiry into media abuse of privacy, perhaps because the tabloids were homing in on his somewhat colourful private life at the time.

As for “sticking two fingers up to more than 17 million who voted to leave”, Mr Jennings should bear in mind that this “will of the people” amounted to little over a quarter of the UK population.

It is entirely democratic for Lib Dems to campaign for the interests of the quarter that voted Remain, those that may have changed their minds since and, above all, those who were and are too young to vote.

Robert Jones

Fambridge Road, Maldon