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.Dear Ed Balls,
We all know that the Darling/Mandelson double-act has made [...]

Dear readers,
You might remember a few days ago that news broke of a document prepared for the Cabinet Office and the Home Office in 2000 which confirmed that Labour encouraged mass immigration even though it knew that voters opposed it while simultaneously claiming that the public disagreed with immigration because of ‘racism’.  Keep that in mind [...]

Dear Ed Balls,
Much as I’d like to send a congratulatory letter to Alistair Darling this morning for being honest when it comes to Downing Street bullying, I thought your disgraceful plans for sex education in faith schools needed to be brought to people’s attention.  You tried to deny yesterday that plans for compulsory sex education in England’s [...]

First we had this:
Ed Balls reveals his struggle with secret stammer (23rd January 2010) – Schools Secretary Ed Balls spoke last night for the first time about his lifelong struggle to overcome a stammer. He revealed that he faced a daily battle to deliver his words and had to memorise all his speeches because he [...]

“The UK is a must to avoid. Its gilts are resting on a bed of nitroglycerine.”
- Bill Gross, co-founder of California-based fund managers Pimco (who are one of the world’s biggest buyers of bonds), dealing a severe blow to the Government’s hopes of claiming credit for reviving the British economy.  His remarks, whose pronouncements on [...]

Let’s recap on the last few days:
Tessa Jowell, in an interview with the Telegraph, had this to say about class warfare:  “I hope that our campaign, and I believe it will be, will be a decent campaign which is engaging the British people in a conversation, not a hideous to and fro of personality attack.  [...]

Dear Peter Mandelson,
As we approach Christmas, there is plenty to be happy about – not least having a few days off work and reading about more Labour infighting in the press.  Rumours are flying around yet again, not only about whether Brown will survive until the election but whether you will survive as well.
First we had signs [...]

From the BBC, over the last two days:

“Chief Secretary to the Treasury Liam Byrne said there was the need for a “power shift” away from civil servants and towards the public. The Guardian reports that the shake-up in public services will include entitlements to personal tuition in schools, minimum GP waiting times and access to [...]

Dear Ed Balls,
With the likelihood of you stepping into Number 11 growing by the day (although not guaranteed just yet), many bloggers, journalists and voters are already shuddering with fear at the prospect of you being in charge of the purse strings.  As if your arrogance and incompetence were not reason enough to want you [...]

Dear Ed Balls,
There appears to be a growing consensus that you represent the very worst aspects of the Labour Party – arrogance, incompetence and disdain at the heart of Gordon Brown’s inner circle.  Yesterday’s announcement on the recruitment and retention of social workers after the death of Baby P might sound like good news, but it [...]

Dear Michael Gove,
As the Conservative Party have made their education reforms the focus of their manifesto for the next election, I can understand that it must be immensely frustrating to watch Ed Balls continue to dig our education system into an ever-deeper hole.  Today will see the launch of the new primary school curriculum that [...]

Dear Ed Balls,
For months now, you have refused to set schools free from state control, ensuring that local authorities maintain their grip on our education system and condemn it to many more years of failure and stagnation.  It is, therefore, ironic that when you finally announce some element of freedom for schools, it is the [...]

Dear Ed Balls,
There is something unbelievably cheeky about yesterday’s release of a government report by Sir Alan Steer into the appalling standards of behaviour in our schools, seeing as Labour have ignored the issue for a decade.  The number of children excluded more than 10 times in a single year went up from 310 in [...]

Dear Ed Balls,
As a die-hard socialist, there are few cabinet members who show such an overt love of centralisation and a desire to control everything and everyone.  Having been on the receiving end of complaints regarding the allegation that Twitter will form a greater part of the new primary school curriculum than History following an [...]

Dear Ed Balls,
As a hater of all things useful in education, you must be delighted at what you’ve heard this morning.  Sir Jim Rose has produced his initial report on reforming the primary school curriculum and it looks pretty much perfect – for you, at least.  Labour have made an art out of pointless reforms that [...]

Dear Ed Balls,
Since becoming Secretary of State, you have demonstrated your love of centralised control in education and children’s services beyond any reasonable doubt.  Removing the freedoms that City Academies enjoyed under Tony Blair is a good example of how you detest individual responsibility and independence from government.  Like Gordon Brown, your response to the [...]

Dear Ed Balls,
As far as I can see, the entire duration of your stint as Secretary of State for Education has consisted of running around a lot without achieving anything – or in some cases going backwards.  Rather than focussing on school discipline, school funding, grade inflation, school choice, integrity in our qualifications and all [...]

Dear Ed Balls,
I wonder if your arrogance will ever cease.  Not only have already dismantled Tony Blair’s vaguely promising educational reforms since becoming Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families, but you are now blinded by your own political ambitions and condemning millions more children to a second-rate education in an already second-rate education [...]

“”We don’t want to see excuses about poor performance”
- Ed Balls talking about Gordon Brown the new plans to replace failing schools with Academies (even though Academies are no longer proper independent Academies like the ones Blair created because they are now controlled by the Local Education Authority and no longer have flexibility over their curriculum and staffing since [...]

Dear Ed Balls,
It’s nice to see you getting back to your job, after doing a superb job of humiliating yourself at this years Budget.  It seems that you have picked on faith schools over the past few weeks, but annoyingly I find it hard to argue with your findings that a lot of faith schools [...]

Dear Ed Balls,
You are having a rough time at the moment, aren’t you!  Not content with being part of a government that is clearly in a terminal slump, you have dug a sizeable hole for yourself with all your cheeky antics.
First, there was the infamous ‘So what?’ comment, when David Cameron highlighted the ever-increasing tax [...]

Dear Ed Balls,
I give up.  You just can’t make your mind up about education.  This nonsense about the diplomas is getting out of hand, because you haven’t thought your plans through.
The new 14-19 diplomas are a joke.  That’s not my opinion; it’s the opinion of the universities and employers who are incredibly reluctant to accept [...]

Dear Ed Balls,
Are you beginning to see how Labour have failed society?  For all your talk of rising ’standards’ and investment in education, the truth of the matter is that children in this country are suffering and no longer feel safe.  Anxiety and childhood are a dangerous mixture that can have serious consequences when the [...]

Dear Ed Balls,
You’re not on a good run at the moment, are you?  Only a few days ago I sent you a letter about your patent contradictions regarding child safety, and today you pin your name to proposals to increase the number of faith schools in the country.
In this day and age, when religious and [...]

Dear Ed Balls,
I’m not entirely sure how to start this letter, seeing as I cannot make my mind up as to how your brain appears to work.  Since your appointment as Children’s Secretary, you and Uncle Gordon have been trying to make out that you care what the public think and that you are concerned [...]