YOUR house needs rewiring. You have three choices.

Employ a qualified electrician who hasn’t worked in the industry for 42 years; or a hairdresser who fancies herself as an electrician but has neither qualifications nor experience; or a qualified electrician who has been rewiring houses for the past 20 years.

Who do you pick?

I agree. We all pick the person who is both qualified and is practising their trade.

So why are pensioners willing to swallow Liam Fox’s assurances that setting up new trade deals will be fast and simple?

Fox is neither economist nor trade negotiator, and he was sacked as a minister.

While he and David Davis crow about how easy it will be for the UK to forge new trade deals around the world post-Brexit, the fact is that the UK government has not negotiated a trade deal with any other nation for over 42 years.

The civil service has no staff with either trade negotiating skills or past experience of having done the job.

Trusting Fox or Davis or Boris Johnson or any of the other Tories is as fluffy-headed as employing a hairdresser to rewire your house.

Christian Vassie, Blake Court, Wheldrake, York