Sir – Re the current story of a member of the public who has asked a question of Oxfordshire county councilors, if they would give their opinion and detail of the allowance increase for councillors.

For councillors to reply with ‘you tell me yours first’ smacks of the playground. This type of reply is not what we expect of public servants. It is relatively simple to obtain salary and allowance details of people in public office. The point here is the response by senior elected members. Have they lost sight of their roles?

Perhaps they have got mixed up with the ideals of the royal concept, a higher status whose members, as part of the role, carry out relentless charity work which keep them more in touch with the general public than many politicians and councillors seem to be.

People who put themselves forward to be elected by the public to a public office job know the deal when they sign up. The public will ask questions of them about how public money is being used.

The public servant is at liberty to give the information requested, not turn the question around to asking a question that is private to a member if the public. The member of the public is not the servant the councillor is the servant.  

A well-known saying that politicians up and down the country should heed with the upcoming elections: ‘Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and to remove all doubt.’

David Archer, North Leigh