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 Barack Obama,
Despite the economic downturn, you are still rightly committed [...]

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 [...]

“I would take a lot of persuading to be convinced that such services represent the best use of the taxpayers’ dollar.”
- Kevin Rudd, Prime Minister of Australia, who has questioned why taxpayers are funding weight loss courses for their civil servants. Official documents released this week showed the government was paying AU$30,000 (US$22,800) to provide weight loss [...]

Dear James Purnell,
Seeing as you are quite happy to upset the socialists in the Labour camp with your welfare reforms, I thought that might want to hear about this little story I stumbled across in today’s papers.  If you are genuinely serious about tackling benefit fraud and getting those who are capable of work back [...]

”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 [...]

Dear James Clappison,
As Shadow Work and Pensions minister, you tread a fine line every day between holding the government to account and sounding like you subscribe to the Daily Mail.  In some cases, however, I think you can achieve both to good effect and yesterday was a prime example.  There are a lot of myths [...]

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 Damien Hall,
I cannot imagine what it must be like to find out that you are unable to have children of your own.  Naturally, you turned to adoption after you received this news but you have been told by Leeds City Council that you are ineligible to do so as you weigh 24 stone.  You [...]

At long last, an employer has finally realised that sometimes fat people deserve to be fired.

Dear Andrew Lansley,
Having declared to the nation that a recession could be “good for us” in many ways, much to the delight of the government, I understand why your handlers are keeping you away from the spotlight.  Cameron and Osborne are clearly concerned about the ‘tax bombshell’ that Brown & Co. are going to leave this [...]

Most people have been forced to experience the fairly cramped and uncomfortable conditions in Economy class on a transatlantic flight.  Thankfully, those days are at an end because today I can announce that if you want two seats to yourself for the whole journey without having to pay a penny extra, I have found a very simple [...]

Dear Andrew Lansley,
Bit of a mixed bag, I’m afraid.  The article in today’s Independent on your drive towards healthier lifestyles started with such promise as you declared that people “have no excuse not to exercise, or eat their fruit and vegetables” and that blaiming biological and environmental factors for becoming obese is unacceptable.  Sadly, when [...]

Dear Local Government Association,
Being a Conservative, I always err on the side of people taking responsibility for their lives.  However, when it comes to the well-being of children, my attitude is that the children must be protected and if this means protecting them from their parents, so be it.  On reading the news today that [...]

“I find this whole approach from the Department of Health a bit prissy and namby pamby”
- Tam Fry, of the National Obesity Forum, criticising the reluctance to use the word ‘obese’ when describing obese children (the government has decided that calling a child ‘obese’ risks alienating parents, so instead they have advised primary care trusts to refer to obese [...]

Dear Vince Cable,
You do make me chuckle.  First came the Bean-Stalin line in the Commons, and now we have the most ridiculously half-baked policy I have heard in ages which aims to save this country from the obesity epidemic through the mighty power of fruit juices.
Obviously, you need to be reminded of a few issues related [...]

Dear Andrew Lansley,
You really have to tear the Government to pieces over the outrageous proposals to pay people to lose weight.  This is going to have disastrous consequences for people’s physical and mental health and I urge you to turn this against the Government.
Apparently, even the Conservatives have ‘healthy lifestyle reward vouchers’ in the pipeline, [...]

Dear Nuffield Council of Bioethics,
Your reputation for high quality research and scientific expertise is well deserved and you command a strong degree of respect accordingly.  For your report to conclude that the government is not doing enough to prevent obesity and binge drinking is therefore very damaging.
My stance on this issue appears to be very [...]

Dear fast food restaurants,
You must be so chuffed.  I mean, look at you – churning out incredibly poor quality food that has unbelievably high levels of salt and fat, and you get away it.  Why? Because the government is too damn scared.
If I was Prime Minister, I would go after you like there’s no tomorrow.  [...]