HOW can KP Chapman (HAS, May 30) state with such conviction that Richmond MP William Hague’s integrity has been beyond question?

What have after-dinner speeches to do with politics and the running of the Richmondshire constituency? It only becomes political when money is exchanged and the people who are paying Mr Hague require their obvious results.

Did your correspondent read in the national press on March 29 that Mr Hague claimed £61,995 in taxpayers’ cash to help pay for a £1m second home in London, while pocketing about £800,000 from part-time jobs, and boasted that he did not have a mortgage on either of his properties?

Mr Hague does not intend to give his lucrative extra income up until this September.

I would also remind your correspondent that Mr Hague’s so-called considerable powers as an MP were not apparent during his term as leader of the Conservative Party.

Does your correspondent believe Mr Hague’s integrity is intact following his interview with Jeremy Paxman on Newsnight on June 2 during their discussion about Lord Ashcroft’s tax status?

For the record, my wife and I have always voted Conservative.

Peter MW Dawson, Richmond, North Yorkshire.