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.

“I find it quite unusual for people to criticise me for doing what I consider to be my duty. …This was nothing to do with partisan politics.”
- Gordon Brown, who said today that the criticism he received for visiting Afghanistan a day after giving evidence to the Iraq war inquiry was “incredibly unfair”. During his Chilcot inquiry [...]

Dear Gordon Brown,
It wasn’t long after Kraft’s audacious takeover bid for Cadbury got the green light that the unions starting stomping their feet about potential job losses.  The deal ends more than more than 150 years of independence for the maker of Dairy Milk, which will now be subsumed within the world’s second-biggest food company.  [...]

Dear readers,
It’s turning out to be a very bad weekend for Islam.  Yesterday, we had the shocking news that the Danish cartoonist who drew a picture of the Prophet Muhammed was almost murdered in his own home by an Islamist nutjob, and now Islam4UK – which calls itself a “platform” for extremist movement al-Muhajiroun – [...]

“When you’ve got the families of soldiers fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan saying they haven’t got the kit they need, collecting reports of funny lights seen in the sky can’t be seen as a priority”
- UFO expert Dr David Clarke, a lecturer in journalism at Sheffield Hallam University, on the Ministry of Defence’s decision to [...]

“When you consider the risk they are running of being killed is one in 40 on the front line and you have got more than that being injured … how many civil servants would volunteer for that?”
- Hazel Hunt, whose son recently died fighting in Afghanistan, condemning the Ministry of Defence last night for awarding its [...]

From the Telegraph:
The decline in Barack Obama’s popularity since July has been the steepest of any president at the same stage of his first term for more than 50 years.  Gallup recorded an average daily approval rating of 53 per cent for Mr Obama for the third quarter of the year, a sharp drop from [...]

Dear Robert Gates,
Having been appointed US Defence Secretary by George W Bush, it came as a surprise to some that you continued this role in Obama’s administration.  With Donald Rumsfeld as your predecessor, the American people and the international community needed someone who restored some trust and faith in the US government after the disgraceful record of [...]

Dear President Hamid Karzai,
As Afghanistan goes the polls, reports of bribery, corruption and fear are plentiful in the British media.  Whether the result of the Presidential election will be accepted by Western leaders remains to be seen.  However, the last few days have given me plenty of reason to doubt the honesty and warmth of [...]

“We definitely don’t have enough helicopters. When you have these modern operations and insurgent strikes what you need, above all else, is mobility.”
- Lord Malloch-Brown, in an interview with the Daily Telegraph today, shortly before performing a spectacular u-turn by declaring that there were “without doubt” sufficient resources in place in Afghanistan.  “On the issue [...]

This  is Joanna Birchall, walking past the coffin of her husband Major Sean Birchall after his funeral a few days ago in London. Major Sean Birchall of 1st Battalion Welsh Guards died on 19th June while on patrol near Lashkar Gah in central Helmand province, Afghanistan.
Today, a Ministry of Defence source confirmed that ministers were [...]

“It’s not really 100% perfect, but compared to the earlier drafts it’s a huge improvement.”
- Shukria Barakzai, a member of parliament in Afghanistan, giving his verdict on the new law supported by President Hamid Karzai.  Human rights activists are furious, as they say it means that women no longer have the right to refuse their husbands sex [...]