YOUR correspondent Neil Raw, “flabbergasted” by the news that Hugh Bayley is to be knighted, asks what the York MP has achieved which is not part of his day job (Letters, January 7). I have two answers to that, from 2014 only.

On Saturday, May 10, I attended a demonstration – Bring Back Our Girls – to protest against the kidnapping of 276 girls from their school in Chibok, Nigeria. Hugh Bayley was there. On Saturday, July 19, I went on a march and rally to protest against Israel’s bombardment of the Gaza Strip. Hugh Bayley was there.

Two impromptu events in York city centre, each inspired by an overseas atrocity, each organised and attended by ordinary people who wanted to express their grief and sympathy for the victims and outrage at the perpetrators. Hugh Bayley might have stayed home, rested, done other stuff. He came, no thought of personal gain, and that is to his credit. If I were king I would have given him a knighthood.

Nicholas Hall, Derwent Mews, Osbaldwick, York.

 

• NO MP can please all his or her constituents, but Neil Raw’s claim (Letters January 7) that Hugh Bayley achieved nothing beyond the duties of “his day job” is ludicrous.

As a member of the International Development Select Committee, Hugh travelled widely in some of the world’s poorest countries, working with governments to try to ensure that UK aid is used to maximum effect. This has meant finding measures to avoid corruption at every stage in the aid-delivery process. Since corruption is two-sided, another aspect has been attempts (I believe at least one was successful) to prosecute UK companies who have offered bribes to overseas governments or agencies.

As a member of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly (latterly its president) Hugh worked assiduously to ensure that Europe’s defence and security is maintained. This included lobbying our own government against a too-drastic reduction in our armed forces.

I hope that the vast breadth of knowledge and experience which Hugh has accumulated will be on offer to a range of UK and international institutions, and I hope that his successor as Labour MP for York Central will be as hardworking on behalf of her constituents as even his detractors acknowledge that Hugh Bayley has been.

Mary Machen, Main Street, Fulford, York.