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.

“Plane ticket to England – £70.  Accommodation - £56. Abortion in a public clinic – £0.  Relief after a procedure carried out in decent conditions – priceless.”
- the Mastercard-mimicking advert from a feminist organisation in Poland, who have been accused of promoting ‘abortion tourism’ by encouraging women to travel to Britain to have terminations on the NHS.  [...]

Dear Dr David Haslam
As Chairman of The National Obesity Forum, it was never going to be long before you got a letter from me.  Your unwavering support for obesity surgery along with your justification for such a perspective demonstrates loud and clear why personal responsibility really has bitten the dust under Labour, and I’m glad [...]

From the BBC:
Some 250,000 11 to 17-year-olds in England are risking skin cancer by using sunbeds, a charity warns.  A government-funded study of more than 9,000 children found 6% had used a sunbed and in some areas of the country 40% of teenagers used them every week.  Writing in the British Medical Journal, Cancer Research [...]

Dear General Medical Council (GMC),
No-one should be under any illusions about how serious the shortage of organ donors is right now.  At present an estimated 1,000 people a year die because of the NHS’s chronic shortage of body parts.  However, your latest ruse – telling doctors to routinely ask every dying patient about organ donation – [...]

Dear readers,
I feel it is my duty as a blogger to inform you about the new immigration policy that the Government is trying to push through while Parliament is on recess.  This information came to me from a very reliable source and should concern all of us.  After Andy Burnham announced yesterday that criticising the [...]

“He does have some quite eccentric views about some things”
- David Cameron on Dan Hannan, as the ’socialised healthcare’ debate rolls on.  Andy Burnham, John Prescott and Peter Mandelson have all attacked David Cameron today on the issue, forcing him to break from his summer holiday to speak to the media and try to calm [...]

Dear Dan Hannan,
After becoming an internet sensation with your attack on Gordon Brown in the European Parliament, the American news networks have certainly warmed to your pro-Republican stance.  Your latest American TV appearance, though, has not gone down too well with some politicos here in the UK and I fear that there is worse to [...]

Dear Grant Schapps,
It looks like you’ve got some decent media coverage for your investigation into IVF.  You found that more than 80% of NHS primary care trusts in England fail to offer the recommended three free cycles of IVF to infertile couples, with a ‘postcode lottery’ in operation with regard to rules on age, relationships and [...]

Dear Laura Ripley,
As I read through your story, I’m not sure what made me angrier: what our benefits culture allows you to get away with, or your attitude towards what you get away with.  I sincerely hope that every Lefty who reads this letter will realise that you epitomise the sad and wasteful culture that [...]

“Keep the river flowing.”
- Dr David Greening from Sydney IVF, delicately describing his new advice that men should have sex every day to improve sperm quality and boost the chance of getting a partner pregnant.  In his study of men with fertility problems, daily ejaculation for a week cut the amount of DNA damage seen in [...]

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 Georgia Davis,
I suppose congratulations are in order.  At 15 years old and weighing 33 stone (210kg), you were dubbed Britain’s fattest teen. After winning a scholarship to an American weight loss camp last year, you have lost 14 stone (89kg), almost half your body weight. However, at age 16 the funding for your treatment is [...]

“It is unacceptable to use taxpayers’ money in this way, especially as it’s a political movement. The fact that the ambulance service is having to bribe paramedics to go is even worse.”
- Ann Widdecombe, reacting to the news that paramedics are being offered £40 overtime each to take part in a gay pride march, even [...]

Dear Terry Sanderson,
As president of the National Secular Society (NSS), I’m sure you come across numerous examples of where religion is given a helping hand by government.  My continued opposition to faith schools would presumably fit in with your organisation’s viewpoint on education, and when it comes to the NHS we are also in agreement that [...]

Dear Alan Johnson,
Desperation is setting in on the Labour benches.  You are so bereft of ideas that you view any initiative, no matter how stupid or wasteful, with a look of excitement.  After the absurdity of schemes such as paying people to give up smoking or eat less, you have now topped many of your [...]

”It sends out the message that in modern day Britain, if you take personal responsibility you have to pay the price; but if you throw responsibility to the wind, the state will pick up the tab.”
- Mark Wallace from the Taxpayers’ Alliance, reacting to the news that the NHS has paid out more than £3 million [...]

“Just imagine the impact of a blanket reduction in doctors’ hours by one full day a week. A creaking system will collapse. And yet most doctors want the freedom to choose to opt-out of 48 hours. We’re begging for some common sense.”
- Dr Matt Jameson Evans, co-founder of the junior doctors group Remedy UK, expressing [...]

Dear Greater Glasgow and Clyde NHS Health Board,
Thank you for standing your ground.  It’s wonderful to see that in this day and age where people throw around lawsuits like they’re going out of fashion, you have decided that you’ve done nothing wrong by refusing fertility treatment to a lesbian couple.  Not only are you operating [...]

Dear Andrew Lansley,
Today’s verdict that England is ‘the sick man of Europe’ must have really stung Alan Johnson.  Labour have been in power for over ten years and despite countless initiatives, hundreds of millions of pounds in investment and numerous ministers having a crack at the problem, England is still in dire straits.  The figures [...]

Dear Marinna Hyde,
I’m not sure whether to loathe you or thank you for your article in today’s Guardian.  It made me feel so content yet so angry at the same time – content because it emphasised to me why those on the Left simply do not understand the concept of ‘choice’, and angry because of [...]

Dear NICE,
Watching you getting hounded by the media about some new drug that you decide not to approve for NHS treatment seems an almost weekly occurence.  Alongside these stories we also now have fairly regular calls for NICE to be dismantled or forced to reform its ways.  I would like to say how sorry I am [...]

30th June: Infections the biggest NHS fear – Picking up an infection is the public’s main concern about hospital care, a UK-wide BBC poll shows. Of the 1,040 people quizzed, 40% listed the risk of potentially deadly infections such as MRSA and Clostridium difficile as their top NHS concern.  In a separate finding, 31% said [...]

Dear Andrew Lansley,
As Shadow Health Secretary, you have remained vigilant without making a spectacular impact thus far.  Admittedly Alan Johnson hasn’t been making the headlines either, save for the occasional pointless initiative on obesity or smoking.  Unfortunately, your front page headline in The Times proclaiming that you will spend an extra £28 billion on the [...]

I am very much of the opinion that the NHS is an absolute disaster and should be completely overhauled if we truly want to set up a world-class health service.  However, it does make me feel a little bit better about our health service when I read about what happens in other countries.

Dear Department of Health,
I’m glad that somebody in government decided to stand up for the taxpayer for a change.  Admittedly the asylum system in this country is farcical in terms of its efficiency, but a line has to be drawn when it comes to healthcare and I totally agree with where you have drawn it.
Obviously [...]