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 Steve Hilton and George Osborne,
I don’t whether it is you or the rest of the Conservative Party staff who I should be writing this letter to.  Even so, the news about Lord Ashcroft’s tax status provides a wonderful example of how detached you are from the real world.  Lord Ashcroft has finally admitted he does not pay [...]

Dear Jan Moir,
Rarely has a single article by a newspaper columnist caused such a stir.  The Press Complaints Commission (PCC) received more than 25,000 complaints, a record number, after you wrote about Stephen Gately’s death, describing events leading up to it as “sleazy” and “less than respectable”.  The article, published on 16 October, six days after [...]

“Yesterday’s newspapers included the headline ‘Scotsman Bares All’. Actually it was about a rugby fan dropping his kilt but it might as easily have been about Gordon Brown talking to ITV interviewer Piers Morgan.  Weeks short of a general election, our previously private Prime Minister blurted out a strange mixture of old jokes, windy smiles [...]

“It seems the Private Eye’s circulation figures are a bit like John Terry’s shorts. In the past they may have been down, now they are firmly up again.”
- Ian Hislop, editor of Private Eye, on the paper’s improved sales figures

“It’s wonderful to be part of a place that so values fair and balanced news.”
- Sarah Palin, after signing on as a commentator with Fox News.  Just to clarify, that’s Sarah Palin describing Fox News as “fair and balanced”.  She will not have her own show, but will contribute to various news programmes and present an [...]

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 The Sun,
Yesterday, both Sky News and the BBC were fixated with your story detailing how the mother of a dead soldier was said to be upset by Gordon Brown’s letter of condolence to her, in which he made several spelling mistakes including the soldier’s name.  You also attacked Brown for failing to bow at [...]

“Either the research arm or the communications arm of the Republican Party.”
- how Anita Dunn, the White House communications director, recently described Fox News.  This has since been followed by Rahm Emanuel, Obama’s chief of staff, saying the channel was “not a news organisation” while senior Obama adviser David Axelrod added: “The only argument Anita was [...]

“If we let it go on much longer, it just won’t happen.”
- the verdict of an insider in the negotiations over the proposed TV debates between the main party leaders.  After only a few weeks of negotiations, David Cameron has rejected the idea of a series of debates between all three party leaders, according to [...]

Dear Johann Hari,
Much as I find your Independent columns rather dull affairs for the most part, today I will make an exception.  Although the recent declaration of support for the Conservatives from Rupert Murdoch may seem like little more than political posturing, you have rightly spotted that there is something more sinister brewing in the [...]

Dear News of the World and the Daily Mail,
There is a part of me that expects such low standards from both of you that I shouldn’t really be surprised when your behaviour appalls me.  That said, I’m not so much surprised as I am disgusted at your apology to the England football manager Fabio Capello and his wife [...]

Dear Robert Gates,
Having been appointed US Defence Secretary by George W Bush, it came as a surprise to some that you continued this role in Obama’s administration.  With Donald Rumsfeld as your predecessor, the American people and the international community needed someone who restored some trust and faith in the US government after the disgraceful record of [...]

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 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 [...]