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 readers,
I’m off to Scotland for a week so blogging will be pretty impossible.  My letters will return on Sunday 7th September, so until then I thought I would leave you with the latest collection of google searches that have brought people to my blog (with a few comments from me in brackets).  Have fun in the [...]

What Darling said at the Budget earlier this year:
“…my forecast shows the UK economy will continue to grow throughout this period of global uncertainty”
“…the reforms we have made since 1997 – independence for the Bank of England and tough fiscal rules – mean that Britain is now more resilient and better prepared to deal with [...]

Dear Diane Ber,
I’m sure it hurts a lot, with your daughter having died at the tender age of 17.  I’m not in any way surprised that you are considering legal action against your NHS Trust and school because your daughter’s school didn’t inform you that she had been suffering from heart palpitations shortly before she was [...]

Love him or loathe him – this really was quite a spectacle.
“For eighteen long months, you have stood up, one by one, and said enough to the politics of the past. You understand that in this election, the greatest risk we can take is to try the same old politics with the same old players [...]

Dear Conservative bloggers,
I have to admit that I’m a little disappointed with us as a group.  Regardless of whether you blog for personal reasons or blog to support the party, there are some issues that transcend party allegiances and party memberships – and I can think of no better example than freedom of speech.  When [...]

Is it just me, or does reading THIS STORY make you feel a little nervous?

Dear Andrew Lansley,
Bit of a mixed bag, I’m afraid.  The article in today’s Independent on your drive towards healthier lifestyles started with such promise as you declared that people “have no excuse not to exercise, or eat their fruit and vegetables” and that blaiming biological and environmental factors for becoming obese is unacceptable.  Sadly, when [...]

It’s not often I say this, but well done to the BBC.  They produced a low-key but suitably damning piece on the proposal for a windfall tax on energy companies.  If you want to find out why such a move is almost impossible to implement, READ THIS.

Dear Baroness Miller,
To start this letter, I would like to say how sorry I am.  Having read this morning’s Telegraph, I find it horrifying that you appear to be the only person showing even the slightest interest in protecting our civil liberties.  I whole-heartedly support your stance on ContactPoint, the new database containing personal details [...]

“The leadership of the trade unions are now putting a gun to Gordon Brown’s head. They are rattling the cage at Number 10.”
- Chris Grayling, Shadow Secretary for DWP, reacting to the news that Unite (Britain’s biggest trade union) has demanded change at the ‘highest level’ of government after saving the Labour Party from bankruptcy

Surely Hillary and husband Bill will now get behind Obama and help him in the race for the White House …won’t they?

“There are insufficient checks and balances to prevent people’s sex lives being habitually monitored by state bureaucrats”
- Eric Pickles, Shadow Secretary for Communities and Local Government, on learning that council officials camp outside people’s homes and watch their cars to check on those who claim a council tax discount for living alone

Dear NICE,
Watching you getting hounded by the media about some new drug that you decide not to approve for NHS treatment seems an almost weekly occurence.  Alongside these stories we also now have fairly regular calls for NICE to be dismantled or forced to reform its ways.  I would like to say how sorry I am [...]

“I’ll have my staff get back to you”
- John McCain, when asked how many houses he owns (the correct answer is seven, worth about $13 million in total)

Dear Nick Clegg,
I’m not sure that this letter will reach you, seeing as you clearly live on a different planet to the rest of us.  I cannot express in words how sick it makes me feel when the Prime Minister tells us how he ‘feels our pain’ and ‘understands our concerns’, because surely if he [...]

16 years old?  Yer, right.

Dear Paul Tweed,
The phrase ‘libel tourism’ is fairly self-explanatory and you seem to be determined to make huge sums of money out of it.  Yesterday you spoke to an audience of Hollywood lawyers who are keen to use UK defamation law to defeat the American press, which they claim has had a free run at making huge [...]

Incredibly ugly and utterly repulsive – and John Prescott isn’t much better.  If you are brave enough to want to know why Jodie Marsh is kissing Junk Food John, CLICK HERE (needless to say, it was paid for using your taxes).

Dear Boris Johnson,
Perhaps being Mayor isn’t as much fun as it looked in the papers.  I cannot believe that you are genuinely enjoying the coverage you have received, particularly after three high-profile resignations within three months of taking office.  The latest to go is Tim Parker, appointed as your first deputy mayor with a brief to [...]

“I think you can have too much of the Today programme, so I’ve started switching it off. If you listen to it too much you want to call the Samaritans”
- David Cameron

Dear David Miliband,
Is this it - an article in The Times?  Call me old-fashioned, but I always looked to a Foreign Secretary to provide stability, reassurance and direction on our foreign policy in addition to responding promptly and decisively to serious issues abroad.  I’ve been watching your work as Foreign Secretary and it is quite clear [...]

“Musharraf’s departure is certainly a watershed that brings to an end a long period of personalised military rule. However, the mess he has left behind is one that will haunt Pakistan and the world in the months ahead and make the international community even more nervous about the future of Pakistan as the militants become [...]

Dear Theresa Villiers,
Your below-par performance as Shadow Transport Secretary has left you very vulnerable should David Cameron decide to reshuffle his cabinet.  Justine Greening has outshone you at every opportunity.  I was almost feeling sorry for you, but after reading about your opposition to road pricing this morning in the Telegraph, I am more than [...]

“If as a result of the current economic situation the only way to help hard-pressed middle-class families is to ask the higher earners to pay more, then serious consideration should be given to that”
- Ivan Lewis, Health Minister, outlining one of his solutions to ‘boost morale’ in the economy as he heralded a return to socialism [...]

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