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 Peter Mandelson,
What a feeling.  What a wonderful feeling.  I bet you can’t get enough of this.  After being cast into the political wilderness for so many years as EU Trade Commissioner (and failing miserably at that), your dramatic return to British politics has put both your hands firmly on the levers of the British [...]

Dear George Osborne,
I daresay your Telegraph article this morning won’t burst into the limelight as it lacks the media appeal and glamour that reels in the commentators.  Even so, it is an extremely important piece which shows that the Conservatives are far from finished.  It’s been a very rocky period for David Cameron and yourself, [...]

Dear Mervyn King,
Thank you so very much for depressing me before my day has even started.  Having read through your letter to the Chancellor explaining why inflation is at 4.1% this month, I have become even more nervous about the outlook for the British economy in 2009 and beyond.  The latest unemployment figures are due [...]

As the credit crunch pushes thousands of families and businesses to the brink of bankruptcy, I am delighted to note that the government is leading by example with their restraint and honesty throughout this crisis.

“We have no idea how much of that stores will pass on to customers. Are you really going to buy a DVD player because it now costs £39.10 instead of £39.90? All this will do is raise Britain’s debt to a level that will take a whole generation to work off. …The same people who [...]

Dear Angela Merkel,
Even though I am deeply suspicious of anyone who supports a Federalist European state, I take my hat off to you for the manner in which you have gone about resurrecting the struggling German economy.  Recession has already tightened its grip on your nation and it may get worse still, yet you have [...]

Dear Tony Blair,
It has been an absolute delight to hear so little about you for so long.  Rumour has it that you are pretending to heal the wounds that you created in the Middle East away from the prying eyes of the media.  Anyone who commits himself to such a mission deserves support and I [...]

Dear Alistair Darling,
No no no no no, please god no.  The debate over the economic crisis has shifted enormously over the past 10 days or so.  The Conservatives have distanced themselves from the pre-budget report this afternoon, safe in the knowledge that you will announce short-term gains for long-term pains through massive hikes in borrowing.  [...]

Dear Jonathan Freeland,
Your article on Comment is Free this morning has nicely captured some of the confusion that currently surrounds political life in the UK.  No-one is entirely sure what will happen for the rest of 2008, let alone 2009, but this uncertainty is breeding talk of an election next year.  For the last year [...]

Dear George Osborne,
Things can only get better for you.  Using the falling value of the Sterling to attack the government probably seemed like a sensible angle, yet even this remark was received badly in some quarters.  I suspect that the negative reaction to your comments about the Sterling will be dwarfed by the reaction to [...]

Dear Nick Clegg,
It was on reading the ComRes poll yesterday that something rather amusing struck me.  While Brown has been hailed a global hero (much to my annoyance) and Cameron has been fighting back with attacks on the Prime Minister’s judgement and record, it suddenly occured to me that you are nowhere to be seen.  [...]

Dear Michael Brown,
Your analysis of today’s ComRes poll in The Independent has highlighted a number of problems facing the Conservatives, none of which are easy to deal with.  Four weeks ago, ComRes had Cameron 12 points ahead but this has now slipped to a 8 point lead – 39 to the Conservatives (-2), 31 to Labour [...]

Inevitably, during an economic downturn there will be millions of people who are left in dire straits.  There will also be a lucky few who manage to benefit from such miserable economic circumstances, and it is a wonderful irony that one of those who seems to be making a decent profit out of the credit crunch [...]

Following the problems in the sub-prime lending market in America and the run on Northern Rock in the UK, uncertainty has now hit Japan. In the last seven days Origami Bank has folded, Sumo Bank has gone belly up and Bonsai Bank announced plans to cut some of its branches. Yesterday, it was announced that [...]

If all this talk of recessions and global meltdowns is not the start you were hoping for on a Monday morning, perhaps this might cheer you up:
[youtube=http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=kQdNLFVdwfQ]

Dear David Cameron,
Over the past year, being Leader of the Opposition must have been a fun ride.  On countless occasions, your role consisted of nothing more than letting Labour trip over themselves and then poking them with big stick when they are sprawled on the floor.  How times have changed.  You and your strategy team [...]

As Alistair Darling spectacularly failed to calm the stock markets yesterday, fears over the true scale of the credit crunch are becoming impossible to conceal.  However, in these dark times there is no need to worry – even if we can’t beat the credit crunch, we can still eat the credit crunch….

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 [...]

I don’t know about you, but every time I think that things can’t get any worse, they do.  How far can our economy fall and how many people will it take with it?