THE city of London, the dark heart of Britain, the place where democracy goes to die, immensely powerful, equally unaccountable, I doubt that one in ten British people has any idea of what the Corporation of the City of London is and how it works.

What is this thing? Ostensibly it’s the equivalent of a local council, responsible for a small area of London known as the Square Mile.

But as its website boasts, ‘among local authorities the City of London is unique’. You bet it is.

In the 25 electoral wards in the Square Mile, in the radius of four wards a total of 9,000 who live within its boundaries are permitted to vote. In the remaining 21 the votes are controlled by corporations, mostly banks and other financial instutions.

Who decides the vote, not the workers but the bosses, they appoint another name for personal choice. Plutocracy in dictionary terminology says ‘government by the rich’.

Try to imagine anyone outside the inner circle of this so-called democracy aspiring to being Lord Mayor of London. Think about the Tories’ democratic failings of the trade unions. Then think of their resounding silence about democracy within the City of London.

TED WHITE, Eastleigh.