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 readers,
It’s not often I’ll credit the Daily Mail for a genuinely good piece of journalism but today they deserve a tip of the hat for picking up on this story:
“Ministers have restored official ties with the Muslim Council of Britain despite its refusal to remove a deputy leader accused of supporting attacks on British [...]

First we had the Hunting Lobby.  Cameron committed himself to repealing the Hunting Act, only to cool his language in recent months.  What did the Hunting Lobby do?  Immediately threaten to withdraw considerable sums of funding and support in rural seats.  Cameron had no choice but to start warming his language up again to placate [...]

“We will try to topple him.  We will work to recruit all those who are loyal to the Land of Israel. He cannot lie to his voters.”
- Arieh Eldad, head of the right-wing National Union party in Israel, who is threatening to bring down Benjamin Netanyahu’s government if he says ‘yes’ to a Palestinian state in a [...]

“Whoever thinks that through concessions peace will be achieved is mistaken. He is only inviting pressure and more wars.”
- Israel’s right-wing foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman, who stunned diplomats in his first speech yesterday when he rejected the past year of US-led negotiations and said that a previous commitment Israel made to Palestinian statehood “had no validity”.  A foreign ministry [...]

“a lesion on the forehead of history”
- how Dr Ibrahim Moussawi, a spokesman for the Lebanese-based militant group Hizbollah, has allegedly described Jews. Campaigners from the Centre for Social Cohesion have pledged to seek an arrest warrant for Dr Moussawi, who is due to visit Britain this March.  The think-tank said the Home Office would be “beyond [...]

Of all the attempts I have heard of aimed at ending the violence in Gaza, none of them have filled me with less confidence than THIS STORY.

Dear David Miliband,
Due to the considerable media coverage, I didn’t feel a need to write a letter to you regarding the attacks in Gaza – that is, until now.  Your tragically weak performance as Foreign Secretary for Britain has already led to the suffering of innocent civilians in Zimbabwe, Burma, Kenya and several other conflict zones.  Your [...]

“David Miliband may not be prepared to say it, but the Israeli reaction is utterly disproportionate. From the standpoint of ordinary people in Gaza this is a full-scale attack, which is leaving women and children dead and thousands of innocent people suffering. The rocket attacks by Hamas are totally unacceptable, but Israel ought to have [...]

Dear Stephen Ladyman,
There is a cruel irony to your article on Comment Is Free this morning.  When it comes to the Middle East, I don’t think there is any country or party that can claim the moral high ground.  Nevertheless, there is nothing more irritating to me than strong partisan views on this subject.
Living in southern [...]

From The Independent today:
“An Israeli government minister warned yesterday that increasing rocket fire from Gaza would bring Palestinians a Shoah – the Hebrew word normally used to denote the Nazi Holocaust inflicted on Jews during the Second World War.
Government spokesmen launched an immediate damage limitation exercise saying that Mr Vilnai was merely using the word [...]

Dear President Bush,
The loss of support you have suffered from the American public in 2007 will not have escaped your attention and your sparse media coverage in the last few months is partly a result of this.  Yourself and Tony Blair have turned your attention to the Israel-Palestine conflict with some vigour over the past [...]

Dear Israeli government,
It’s all very well taking a strong stance against Iran developing nuclear weapons, but sometimes you have to appreciate that it sounds a little futile.  America’s National Intelligence Assessment concluded that Iran is not developing nuclear weapons, only for President Bush to insist that Iran is still a major threat and today you are [...]

Dear Robert Fisk,
As a highly-regarded political commentator, I am often keen to read your perspective on international politics.  Your views on the recent Israeli-Palestinian commitment to talks over the coming year are as sceptical and cynical as mine, albeit for slightly different reasons.
There is certainly a feeling of ‘we have heard this all before’ about [...]

Dear Amnesty International,
Thank you for bringing the awful abuses of political opponents by Fatah and Hamas to light. 
With the effort supposedly being expended to try and bring the key players in the Middle East to the negotiating table, it is saddening that the Palestinian factions are turning on each other at a time where we [...]

Dear Tony Blair,
Being one of the chief architects of bringing chaos to the Middle East, I was surprised that you took the role as peace envoy to the Middle East a few months back.  Your pro-Israel stance as Prime Minister made me extremely angry on many occasions as you seemed to completely ignore the suffering [...]

Dear Israeli government,
Needless to say the continuing support you receive from the USA remains a factor in the continuing violence in the Middle East and you seem to enjoy a certain amount of immunity to blame as a result.  This could not have been better demonstrated in the dearth of media coverage for the claims that [...]