Letters From A Tory Daily views on British politics and the Conservative Party from a centre-right thinker who writes letters on his blog to politicians, journalists and many others.

Dear Alistair Darling,
You poor man.  Your political ego must be feeling pretty bruised today after your spectacular back-tracking on capital gains tax.
I hope this serves as a valuable lesson to you.  For a government that claims to be so interested in listening to the public, the fact that your original proposals for reforming capital gains [...]

Dear private schools,
At long last you might be coming under a bit of pressure.  You have somehow circumvented the issue of why you exist for a considerable period of time, but much as I loathe the Labour government they are thankfully starting to question the value you add to society.
You are classed as charities because you [...]

Dear Peter Hain,
To my mind, the phrase ‘extraordinary development’ should be reserved for important areas such as advances in scientific understanding, international crises or sporting upsets.  To use this precise phrase to describe how you accidentally miscalculated the number of foreign workers in this country by a mere 300,000 people strikes me as incompetence rather than [...]

Dear Tim Hames,
Ouch.  You really stuck this knife in this morning in The Times about the Lib Dems.  Even though I have no problem with them as a party, I do tend to agree with you by questioning what purpose they actually serve.
As I see it, their support over the last few years has come [...]

Dear David Cameron,
Your strategy of addressing the West Lothian question is the correct one.  No drama, no glamour, no hype – just asking the sensible questions.  Alex Salmond has made some fairly inflammatory remarks this morning.  He may well be right about Scotland becoming considerably richer should they have control of their own oil, but [...]

Dear Jack Straw,
Come on, Jack.  Labour trying to convince the public that you care about civil liberties?  Obviously we have been living on a different planet for the past 10 years, because here on Planet Earth the government has been eroding civil liberties at every available opportunity and shows no signs of stopping yet.
Speed cameras, [...]

Dear The Times,
Your fortright but sensible views on abortion in this morning’s Leader were much appreciated.  Abortion is a desperately sensitive subject and you gave it the respect it deserved.  So often, people lose perspective on this issue as they get tangled up in their own strongly held and commited beliefs.  Thankfully you took a [...]

Dear Gordon Brown,
Your soft and comforting words in today’s Guardian are worthless, I’m afraid.  Your failure to act decisively in Burma led to the deaths of huge numbers of innocent protesters, and here you are trying to make out that you are fighting the military regime.
Bearing in mind you are Prime Minister, you are still [...]

Dear Nick Herbert,
Thank you for trying to hold the government to account for their failure to back their rhetoric with action on deporting foreign criminals. 
To me, it’s rather simple.  If a foreign national commits a crime in this country, they get sent home and are never allowed to return.  None of the rubbish about their human rights being [...]

Dear Amnesty International,
Thank you for bringing the awful abuses of political opponents by Fatah and Hamas to light. 
With the effort supposedly being expended to try and bring the key players in the Middle East to the negotiating table, it is saddening that the Palestinian factions are turning on each other at a time where we [...]

Dear Ed Balls,
I give up.  You just can’t make your mind up about education.  This nonsense about the diplomas is getting out of hand, because you haven’t thought your plans through.
The new 14-19 diplomas are a joke.  That’s not my opinion; it’s the opinion of the universities and employers who are incredibly reluctant to accept [...]

Dear Rachel Sylvester,
Some of your points in today’s Telegraph voiced what a lot of people are feeling about Gordon Brown at this moment in time.  The confusion and disillusionment is there for all to see.
I certainly agree with your assessment of events over the last few months.  No-one seems quite sure who Gordon Brown is fighting [...]

Dear readers,
It was only a matter of time before the lawyers got their teeth into the blogosphere and even though it didn’t exactly grab the headlines today, it seems as though the mask of anonymity provided online is about to be taken away.  Have a read of the story, and leave your reactions in the [...]

Dear Matthew Elliott,
I feel a lot of admiration and sympathy for the work you do at the Taxpayers Alliance.  When you see evidence of inequality and unfair taxation, you try to bring it into the media spotlight.  I was wondering whether you think there is any chance of changing the approach of the government with [...]

Dear Tony McNulty,
As Police Minister you have found yourself in a tight spot this morning.  as the National Black Police Association calls for more stop and searches for ethnic minorities.
I’m sure your first instinct as a Labour minister is to pretend that you care about equality and try to appeal to voters by not looking [...]

Dear readers,
Did you know there were in fact two rugby world cup finals being played last night? Click on the picture below for the full graphic.

Dear Tony Blair,
Let this letter be a stern warning to you – I don’t like you, this country doesn’t like you, we will never forgive you for the mess you left this country in.
If you even think about trying to get yourself into a position where you can drag Britain even further into the joke [...]

Dear Simon Heffer,
Your thoroughly justified anger in today’s Telegraph was verging on an educated rant, and consequently made for good reading.
Although you touched on many recent news stories, your point about public services was the most cutting.  The fact that many ministers have never done a ‘real job’ means that they are completely detached from the ‘real world’.  [...]

Dear Nick Clegg,
I am writing to you with the greatest sympathy, seeing as you are clearly suffering from memory problems despite your tender age.
I read this morning that in order to stamp your authority on the Lib Dem leadership contest, you will put it to the party that they face oblivion unless they broaden their [...]

Dear fast food restaurants,
You must be so chuffed.  I mean, look at you – churning out incredibly poor quality food that has unbelievably high levels of salt and fat, and you get away it.  Why? Because the government is too damn scared.
If I was Prime Minister, I would go after you like there’s no tomorrow.  [...]

Dear readers,
Does anyone know what odds are being offered on England failing to qualify for Euro 2008 plus England losing the Rugby World Cup Final plus Lewis Hamilton failing to win the Formula One World Championship?
With some concern,
A.Tory

Dear Sir Michael Lyons,
I doubt you are a very popular man in and around the BBC at the moment.  2,800 jobs are to be chopped and you are the one who has instigated it.  You’re probably in for quite a lot of flack over this, but I find it astonishing that even an incident such [...]

Dear Liam Byrne,
Much as you’d like to shout from the rooftops about how wonderful your ‘open door’ policy on immigration is, the Home Office report today provides scant evidence to support your claim.
Your argument revolves around some media-friendly figures.  Apparently, migration produced £6 billion of economic growth last year, migrants had high skills levels and were [...]

Dear readers,
For those of you who enjoy a good House of Commons debate, you’ll definitely enjoy this.
[youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=TvS7NS__a2g]

Dear Jacqui Smith,
I hope that common sense prevails again on this stupid argument about legalising drugs, which got even more backing today from a former chief inspector of prisons.
The argument seems to be this: smoking and alcohol kill lots of people, most other drugs don’t kill lots of people, so let’s legalise all drugs because [...]