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.

Welcome to ‘Letters From A Tory’, covering British politics from a conservative perspective. Please leave a comment if you have any thoughts about today’s letter, and don’t forget that you can CLICK HERE to get my letters sent to you by RSS every morning.“The sort of people you see in TV advertisements for deodorants”
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“Kremlinologists of the party have talked of various pygmies and teenagers in the closed circle around Mr Cameron having catfights with each other, or being reassigned duties within the nascent campaign, as panic starts to seep up the creeks and fill the shallows of what was once the dry land of self-assurance. A summit was, [...]

Dear David Cameron,
There is no doubt in my mind that you will be watching the polls over the next few days with even more interest than usual.  Your spring conference in Brighton, which was considerably smaller than the main party conference in October, attracted some reasonably positive coverage but yet again your hand is being [...]

His general election coordination has been appalling.
His dithering has been costly.
His inexperience has been all too evident.
But could he turn it all around this weekend? From the Telegraph:
George Osborne will unveil an emergency “enterprise” budget within 50 days of a Conservative election victory which will sharply cut taxes for business, it can be disclosed. The [...]

“If in the face of the most disastrous government since we lost the American colonies the best the opposition can expect is a hung Parliament, it is time that Camp Cameron asked itself some serious questions. Of course there will be many people …who quite rightly point to the potential horrors of another bout of [...]

Dear David Cameron,
As a conservative voter approaching a General Election, I would like to think that my confidence in the Conservative Party would be fairly secure by now.  What we have seen over the past few weeks, though, is a painful combination of naivety, incompetence, stupidity and inappropriateness that has dragged the party down in the [...]

Dear David Cameron,
One of Gordon Brown’s failings that surely cannot have escaped your attention is his inability to lead with conviction and strength.  Climategate has provided a real test of both Brown’s leadership and yours, and as far as I can see you have both performed dismally when the public were crying out for someone [...]

“The party faithful have been grotesquely caricatured over the last week or so by metropolitan journalists who couldn’t tell a swede from a squash”
- Michael Gove on the ‘Turnip Taliban’ row over South West Norfolk Conservatives

He said in a recent interview that he is happy to ”become a professional nuisance within the Conservative party.”
He said in the same interview that whenever he thought about standing for the Conservatives in the past, he decided: “It wouldn’t work – I’m too much of a loose cannon, no good at going along with things [...]

“I suppose if you repeat a lie enough, some people will start to believe you.”
- John Prescott, explaining New Labour’s approach to government attacking the Conservatives’ progressive credentials.

“It will be a very inexperienced government and that is a worry. There will be stars that shine brightly and comets that come crashing back”
- Lord Tebbit, envisaging a future Conservative government

Dear Dan Hannan,
After becoming an internet sensation with your attack on Gordon Brown in the European Parliament, the American news networks have certainly warmed to your pro-Republican stance.  Your latest American TV appearance, though, has not gone down too well with some politicos here in the UK and I fear that there is worse to [...]

Dear Dr Sarah Wollaston,
Several media outlets, including some Conservative blogs, have been falling over themselves to praise the way in which you have been selected as a PPC for the Conservative Party in Totnes.  Unfortunately, I find it very hard to share their enthusiasm.  While I agree that Totnes was a fascinating experiment from a democratic perspective, I [...]

IN THE RED CORNER: A row has been sparked by a short video clip available online dated July 2000, in which Michal Kaminski (pictured above), leader of the European Conservatives and Reformists and a member of Poland’s Law and Justice Party, uses the word “pedal” to refer to gay rights campaigners in a TV interview. This [...]

Dear Iain Dale,
Well done for spotting yet another attempt by journalists to infiltrate the Conservative Party yesterday.  For the third time in two years, a newspaper has attempted to plant a mole inside the party to gain access to inside information.  However, your conclusions about the evils of phone hacking and journalist infiltration might need [...]

Dear Andy Coulson,
I have no idea how you’re going to feel as you wake up this morning.  The BBC and most newspapers are still running with the allegations of phone-tapping at the News of the World, although David Cameron openly gave you his support yesterday – making your job safe, for now at least.  The [...]

Dear William Hague,
The soundbytes in the morning papers will bring joy to the hearts of many Conservatives around the country – Labour in third place with under 16% of the popular vote.  On the BBC election coverage last night, you came across as relaxed, optimistic and sincere while Harriet Harman tried to divert the conversation onto MPs [...]

Dear Alistair Darling,
Watching you and the other major world finance ministers struggle to agree on the agenda, let alone any solutions, for the G20 summit next month is truly hilarious.  Gordon Brown has pinned all his hopes on kidding himself and voters that this summit will somehow signal the end of the economic crisis and [...]

Dear Matt Lewis,
Waking up on a Saturday morning is difficult enough for most people, but for you waking up today must be a pretty horrible experience.  Almost every paper has run with the story about your questionable decision to dress up as a dead Madeleine McCann at a fancy dress party, with the Daily Mail [...]

Dear Alan Duncan,
I fear that this may be the last letter I write to you on this blog.  Such has been your woeful performance as Shadow Business Secretary, your position has becoming extremely vulnerable.  With a reshuffle on the Conservative frontbench now thought to be imminent, the last thing any sensible Shadow Cabinet member would [...]

Dear Simon Heffer,
I find your Telegraph column to be a rather mixed bag.  While I often agree with your demands, complaints and general narrative, most of which is aimed at the Conservative Party, I simply do not understand how you can ignore the political context surrounding the events that you describe.  Your dislike for Conservative Party policy, [...]

Dear crooked Conservative MEPs,
I simply cannot believe what I am reading.  You really don’t get it, do you.  When faced with a barrage of evidence showing how immorally you have acted, your reactions have been extremely disappointing.  Your resignations should have been handed in the second that you were caught, but instead you have decided [...]

Dear Janet Daley,
Even though you are almost a year too late with your article in the Telegraph this morning, I largely agree with your analysis.  You rightly ask whether New Labour was “ever anything more than a stupendously successful media operation?”  The answer is yes, but not much.
Although Gordon Brown has made a large number of [...]

Dear Chris Grayling,
You seem to be rising through the ranks of the Conservative Party with some ease and it is becoming more and more apparent why you are highly regarded.
While David Cameron is doing a lot of the glamour work in front of the cameras, which is absolutely essential, you are also following up his [...]

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’.  [...]