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 Nick Hogan,
Thanks largely to the efforts of a few bloggers, you are now back home following a stint in Forest Bank jail in Pendlebury.  A huge amount of credit for this must go to Anna Raccoon and Old Holborn, who rallied to your cause and did some seriously speedy fundraising in order to secure your release [...]

Dear Kevin Rudd,
Although you may still be basking in the glory of being one of the few developed nations not to go into recession during the global economic meltdown, it seems as though you still have some questions to answer.  It appears as though you have been taking lessons from the illiberal authoritarian lunatics in [...]

Dear Mark Thompson and Will Straw,
I read your joint blogpost last week on Mark Reckons and Left Foot Forward about whether the MPs with the safest seats are the worst expenses claimants with some interest.  The original suggestion of a link came several months ago on Mark’s blog and it certainly provoked discussion in various political channels.  However, on [...]

Dear Simon Sheppard and Stephen Whittle,
Yet again, I am dismayed by the lack of protection for free speech in this country.  It seems as though upsetting and offending people is still illegal in this country, yet the USA and no doubt many other developed nations who offer constitutional protection for free speech make the UK look [...]

Dear Sunny Hundal,
It was interesting to read your 2009 in statistics and popular blogposts article on Liberal Conspiracy yesterday, as it showed a doubling of your unique visitors over the past 12 months.  However, my overall impression from your stats was that, despite doubling your readership, your site hasn’t really gone anywhere.  Allow me to explain.
Let’s start with your [...]

Dear readers,
As we reach the end of 2009, a host of bloggers have jumped in with their predictions for what will happen in 2010.  However, I have decided to continue the recent trend on this blog of predicting things that will not happen instead.  Here we have my 10 predictions for things that you definitely [...]

According to Ian Burrell at the Independent, not very!:
Baroness Buscombe, the new chairman of the Press Complaints Commission, has ambitions for her organisation that go beyond the traditional newspaper companies.  She wants to examine the possibility that the PCC’s role should be extended to cover the blogosphere, which is becoming an increasing source of breaking [...]

Dear Prisoner Ben,
You seem to have caused quite a stir in the blogosphere.  According to your site, you have ”wandered through the prison system for 30 years” after pleading guilty to the murder of a friend at the age of 14, and now you have taken up blogging.  Some bloggers such as Jailhouse Lawyer and A Very [...]

Dear readers,
Continuing my brief excursion into the Total Politics Top 100 lists, today I’m going to be taking a closer look at the top-ranked Labour blogs.  Here is their Top 20 poll result for 2009 with last year’s position in brackets:
1   (1)   Tom Harris MP
2   (2)   Hopi Sen
3   (-)   LabourList
4   (-)   Alastair Campbell
5  (13) [...]

Dear readers,
After saying yesterday that I was going to spend today looking at the Labour blogosphere, I’m afraid that I have been forced to deviate from that plan slightly.  You see, the Top 100 left-of-centre blogs has been released and will be discussed tomorrow but in the meantime I have to discuss why the Top [...]

Dear readers,
As I’m sure some of you know, Total Politics are currently releasing the results of their annual blog poll over the course of several days.  As a member of the Conservative blogosphere I’m probably a little too biased to comment on what the last 12 months have been like in that particular area but [...]

Dear Alex Hilton,
One wonders whether a lack of intelligence is a pre-requisite for wanting to join the Labour Party, given the dearth of talent in the Cabinet and among the parliamentary party.  It seems as though the same question may apply to prospective parliamentary candidates like yourself as well.  Yesterday you admitted that you had created [...]

“I feel proud to live in a country where you’re not persecuted for your opinions. That right has to be protected. Even though people are now taking shots at me on the web, I believe those people have a right to their opinions — and their anonymity.”
- Rosemary Port, who is suing Google for $15 million because she [...]

Dear Liskula Cohen,
Although your name recognition was pretty much zero in the UK before this week, your US legal case may have ramifications that roll on for years.  You have won a landmark court battle to reveal the identity of an anonymous blogger who called you a “skank” and an “old hag”.  This case sets [...]

Dear readers,
My letter today concerns a blog ranking system called ‘Wikio’.  As some readers may not be familiar with this ranking system, I thought I would give my two cents worth about whether or not it’s worth worrying about from a blogger’s perspective.  I’m sure most people who follow political blogs have seen some of [...]

Dear Lisa Greenwood,
Although a lot of people have lost their jobs during the recession, your sacking was not recession-related in the slightest.  After posting an anonymous message about Hazel Blears on the internet at the height of the furore over abuse of the second home allowances, you have been fired from your job as office [...]

Dear Nightjack,
Your quest to protect your identity is at an end, sadly.  Despite your best efforts, Mr Justice Eady refused to protect your anonymity and you now have your name splashed across the papers this morning.  Needless to say there is some concern about the implications of this case for other anonymous bloggers in the UK, but [...]

Dear Mike Smithson,
As an avid reader of www.politicalbetting.com, I enjoy your insights into the political world through betting markets.  On top of betting commentary, you also add a layer of your own analysis that I agree with more often than not.  However, yesterday you might have missed something rather crucial about the proposed move towards using [...]

Dear Lefty bloggers,
Here is an excerpt from the Times newspaper yesterday morning, that I felt beared repeating:
“Anti-capitalist protesters brought Bank Holiday chaos to Brighton yesterday. Mounted police were forced to retreat as masked demonstrators among a 2,000-strong crowd hurled bricks and bottles. Several missiles were seen to hit police officers and their horses. Three officers [...]

Dear Derek Draper,
I do worry about you.  You obviously had no idea what life in the blogosphere was like before you decided to blindly walk into it.  Your recent string of spats with Guido and Iain Dale have proved most undignifying and I think it’s fair to say that the majority of bloggers and blog [...]

Dear Unity,
For someone who prides themselves on well-researched and weighty blog posts on different topics, you really have let yourself down this time.  In response to Labour backbench MP Graham Stringer declaring that dyslexia was a “cruel fiction” that should be consigned to the “dustbin of history”, your post over at Liberal Conspiracy simply wittered on about [...]

Dear Alex Hilton
Apologies for sending this letter a couple of days late, but I feel that your apparent confusion still warrants a letter – and may I say what a fine mess you’ve got yourself into.  As the owner of LabourHome, you published an article from a LabourHome user about a former party member who had [...]

Dear Hazel Blears,
What on earth are you doing?  I find it impossible to understand whether this was sheer stupidity or malicious scaremongering on your part, or both.  For you to go on the record in a speech to the Hansard Society yesterday saying that political blogs are creating “a culture of cynicism and despair” is [...]

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 [...]

Dear LabourHome,
Not satisfied with Labour campaigners in Crewe and Nantwich turning Labour into the ‘nasty party’, it seems that Labour bloggers are now following suit. Your LabourHome website hasn’t been working properly on my computer for quite a while now and looked like this (click thumbnail to enlarge – notice I’m logged in on the [...]