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 Jack Straw,
It never fails to amaze me how Labour can reinvigorate their interest in a topic when faced with electoral defeat after almost completing ignoring it for 13 years.  After the hilarious decision to keenly introduce Alternative Vote into our democracy, having completely ignored the issue for 13 years, you have now been struck [...]

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 Jack Straw,
You will no doubt be glad that most of the media is focusing on the Glasgow East by-election this morning, because it gets you off the hook.  Over the past several months, away from the public eye, you have instigated some of the brutal attacks on civil liberties ever seen under this Labour [...]

Before Question Time last night, we knew that:
(a) Nick Griffin was a twat.
(b) Unite Against Fascism were a bunch of illiberal, anti-democratic loons who choose violence over discussion every time.
(c) The BNP’s policies and record would not stand up to any serious scrutiny.
(d) The Question Time audience were clearly going to be rigged against the [...]

Dear Jack Straw,
Seeing as the BNP and postal workers strike will dominate the news today, you have avoided what should have been an almighty public backlash against an absolutely shocking abuse of our democracy.  Plans to introduce secret inquiries into controversial deaths from which the public and bereaved families could be banned are to be [...]

“Ian Gibson clearly didn’t deserve to be railroaded out of the party. The leadership clearly wanted to make an example of someone, and Ian was bounced out. I think it was an appalling thing to do to him. People are not stupid. They have looked at what the reality is and measured what Ian did [...]

“Some of our Continental colleagues are astonished that we should be getting ourselves into this kind of paddy over a few thousand pounds”
- Justice Secretary Jack Straw on the MPs’ expenses scandal

Dear Jack Straw,
It seems that a fairly large portion of humble pie is in order today after Labour were forced to drop plans for a legally-binding code of conduct for MPs after fears it would prompt legal challenges.  The idea had been a key part of your plans to “clean-up” politics after the expenses scandal, but [...]

Dear Chris Grayling,
After your first big announcement this week about confining ‘young troublemakers’ to their homes outside school hours, the press coverage was reasonably kind.  I’ve never heard of such a scheme before so I hope there were some grounds for thinking it might actually work.  Jack Straw has made a habit of announcing random [...]

Dear Jack Straw,
Surely you learnt your lesson with Harriet Harman’s disgraceful attempt to cover up MPs’ expenses?  There are some government plans that split the public, some for and some against.  42-day detention certainly had a lot of people interested and a lot of people just couldn’t make their mind up.  There are, however, other [...]

Dear Jack Straw,
At first, I thought Andy Burnham’s desire to control everything and everyone on the Internet only managed to squeak through onto the front pages because there was no other news around.  Now I’m not so sure.  All of Labour’s recent covert activities, it seems, are coming to light over the Christmas period and [...]

Dear Jack Straw,
Now that Mandy and Campbell are back in charge, I assume that you have a lot more free time on your hands as you don’t have to worry so much about holding the Labour Party together.  May I suggest that one excellent use of your energy would be to send out a very [...]

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.

Dear Jack Straw,
I sense some discomfort in your political activity over recent weeks.  Having been one of Blair’s buddies for so long, it now seems that you are struggling to keep in line behind Uncle Gordon.  Despite being given the fairly senior post of Justice Secretary, you clearly do not grasp the concept of justice [...]

Dear Jack Straw,
I don’t think you quite understand what you are dealing with here.  After Jacqui Smith lit the touchpaper at the command of Uncle Gordon with regard to police officers’ pay, it is astonishing to think that you are planning to resolve the crisis by banning prison officers from striking.
To arrogantly announce that “we [...]

Dear Jack Straw,
Trying to reform party funding is by no means a pointless task.  There have been many concerns raised over the past few years and I think many of them are justified to some extent.  What really irritates me is that your fresh talks in search of a cross-party deal on new rules of [...]

Dear Jack Straw,
Come on, Jack.  Labour trying to convince the public that you care about civil liberties?  Obviously we have been living on a different planet for the past 10 years, because here on Planet Earth the government has been eroding civil liberties at every available opportunity and shows no signs of stopping yet.
Speed cameras, [...]