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.

“They should be able to enjoy a drink in these times of hardship without being penalised by extra costs. They are already paying enough in taxes. Enough is enough.”
- Jeremy Beadles, chief executive of the Wine & Spirit Trade Association, responding to the news that drinkers face swingeing increases which would add several pounds to [...]

“One who drinks, loses his head. And we know people drink here! First one shot—that’s allowed. Then two, three and ‘ok, let’s go.’ I think we should ban getting behind the wheel in an intoxicated state.”
- Russian President Dimitry Medvedev, launching a campaign to crack down on the country’s widespread abuse of alcohol using a new law [...]

“You will have a hard job convincing motorists this is anything other than a stealth tax to shore up a creaking system strapped for cash.”
- Professor Stephen Glaister, director of the RAC Foundation, speaking after it was announced that motorists in England and Wales fined for minor offences now face having to pay bigger penalties [...]

Dear Libertarian Alliance,
The description that you give for yourselves as ”the radical free market and civil liberties think tank and pressure group” sounds relatively harmless, but in my humble opinion it might need changing as it doesn’t quite convey your utter stupidity to the outside world.  Yesterday, you sent out a press release calling on the [...]

Dear Chris Grayling,
After your bizarre remarks about parts of this country being like ‘The Wire’, a TV series about drug-dealing set in Baltimore, you’ve been understandably quiet on the policy front.  Yesterday saw you re-emerge with a set of proposals aimed at cracking down on alcohol-fuelled violence – some of which I applaud and some [...]

“It will be jelly bean Asbos for sugared-up kids next. Surely it’s time to call last orders on endless new legislation.”
- Isabella Sankey, policy director for civil liberties group Liberty, criticising the new police powers to impose Drinking Banning Orders – dubbed “booze Asbos” – on people who behave anti-socially while drunk.  Offenders must stay away [...]

Dear David Cameron,
It is with some disappointment that I note you are still willing to grab a quick headline instead of tackling the underlying causes of societal problems.  I thought that after all your talk of personal responsibility over the past few years, you might be willing to take a different approach to your Labour [...]

Dear Mark Allcock,
As a local councillor in Oldham, life must be extremely troubling.  In the first four months of this year, the city centre has seen a 200% increase in serious violent incidents.  That’s a stabbing or an assault with intention to kill on average every Friday and Saturday night.  It sounds as though you [...]

“I get students writing to tell me about having a Hagueathon: they are trying to drink 14 pints, or have a three-legged one where two of them drink seven pints. That is my contribution to the English language. Margaret Thatcher contributed ‘Thatcherism’, all I’ve contributed is the name of a drinking contest.”
- William Hague

Dear BrewDog,
It is surely no surprise that you have incurred the wrath of various organisations by producing what you claim is the UK’s strongest beer.  However, it is your justification for doing so that I find interesting.  Indeed, you insist that producing the strongest beer in the country will help tackle the increasingly problematic binge-drinking [...]

“There’s no doubt in my mind that in this country we have a drinking problem. The whole of society bears the burden. The passive effects of heavy drinking on innocent parties are easily underestimated and frequently ignored. The concept of passive drinking and the devastating collateral effect that alcohol can have on others must be [...]

Dear Andrew Lansley,
Today’s verdict that England is ‘the sick man of Europe’ must have really stung Alan Johnson.  Labour have been in power for over ten years and despite countless initiatives, hundreds of millions of pounds in investment and numerous ministers having a crack at the problem, England is still in dire straits.  The figures [...]

Dear Dawn Primolo,
Labour’s love of job-creation schemes is widely recognised in the public sector and your appointment as Public Health minister just goes to show that the government is happy to apply this logic to themselves.  As Labour are intent on telling us how to live our lives, the newspaper reports of how the middle-class [...]

Dear Ken Clarke,
As I predicted a little while ago, your return to the Shadow Cabinet has pushed Alan Duncan out of the picture.  In the last letter I wrote to Alan Duncan, I explained to him why his performance as Shadow Business Secretary was simply unacceptable as he had done little more than give quotes to newspapers [...]

Dear Alan Johnson,
The economic crisis has pretty much wiped out any interest in health policy over the last six months.  This will have given you plenty of time to work on a possible election manifesto and really get to the bottom of some key issues facing hospitals and healtcare budgets across the UK.  Alas, you’ve gone [...]

Dear Alan Johnson,
There are very few things that annoy me more than pointless and inevitably unsuccessful Labour policy initiatives, but one thing that certainly does annoy me more is you being dishonest about pointless and inevitably unsuccessful Labour policy initiatives.  Labour have huffed and puffed about binge drinking but every time you have gone near [...]

Dear Chris Allison,
As the police force’s representative on alcohol concerns, I’m glad to see that you have finally been struck down by common sense when you came to the conclusion that the alcohol trade “repeatedly shows that it cannot be relied upon to consistently act in a responsible way.”  This revelation is hardly front-page news, but [...]

Dear Nuffield Council of Bioethics,
Your reputation for high quality research and scientific expertise is well deserved and you command a strong degree of respect accordingly.  For your report to conclude that the government is not doing enough to prevent obesity and binge drinking is therefore very damaging.
My stance on this issue appears to be very [...]