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.

“I was just completely gobsmacked. I honestly thought someone was going to run out with a camera.”
- motorist Michael Mancini, after he was fined by police for blowing his nose while at a standstill in traffic.  Mancini was given a £60 fixed penalty notice after a policeman decided he was “not in control of his [...]

Dear environmental campaigners,
Apparently you are feeling hard done by this morning after you were labelled as ‘extremists’ and listed alongside al-Qaeda inspired terrorists and dissident Irish republican groups by the Government.  The new guidance on extremism, produced by the Ministry of Justice, was sent to probation staff in charge of writing court reports or supervising a range [...]

Dear John Redwood,
Your rolling coverage of suggested spending cuts on your blog is certainly thought-provoking.  For example, your post yesterday entitled ‘Fewer prisoners, fewer prison places’ had an element of underlying logic.  The idea was simple: let low-level non-violent offenders such as burglars and thieves pay fines instead of sending them to prison.  While this [...]

 
Some police officers have always been sceptical of the effectiveness of PCSOs and argue that the public is ill-served by supposed police officers who do not have the same training as full officers and fewer powers.
The Police Federation has accused the Labour Government of undermining the role of constable and “policing on the cheap”.
Earlier this [...]

Dear Alan Johnson,
Having presumably given up on any short-term leadership ambitions, you are now rejoining the fold by announcing that local councils are to get the power to seize the assets of minor offenders.  Home Office claims that seizing “ill-gotten gains” are a key part of the fight against all kinds of crime is misleading [...]

Dear Anton Setchell,
To be honest I had never heard your name before I read the Guardian yesterday.  According to their investigation, you are in overall command of Association of Chief Police Officers’ (ACPO) “domestic extremism” remit.  This rather shadowy organisation raises a huge number of questions about what the role of the police is and whether [...]

“It will be jelly bean Asbos for sugared-up kids next. Surely it’s time to call last orders on endless new legislation.”
- Isabella Sankey, policy director for civil liberties group Liberty, criticising the new police powers to impose Drinking Banning Orders – dubbed “booze Asbos” – on people who behave anti-socially while drunk.  Offenders must stay away [...]

Dear Shaun Sawyer,
As a leading member of the Metropolitan Police’s counter-terrorism command (SO15), I would hope that you’d steer clear of baseless accusations and needless scaremongering due to the sensitivity of your work.  Boy, was I wrong about that.  SO15 has decided that far right groups could be planning a terrorist “spectacular” to stoke up [...]

“Other than an age range, neither woman could provide further description.”
- a press release from Canadian police, who were on the search on Monday for a brazen thief who snatched a take-away meal while making a naked run past a fast food restaurant’s drive-though window. An employee of a Langley, British Columbia, Wendy’s restaurant was handing food [...]

“They were dressed like nuns, carrying crosses, but wearing thongs under their skirts and showing people their bottoms and the rest”
- a police official, describing the attire of 17 British men who stood trial dressed in nun’s habits on the Greek island of Crete for flashing their bottoms in public, but walked free after no [...]

Dear Fawcett Society,
I have lost count of the number of organisations who claim to seek ‘equality’ but actually just want to bash someone else in society.  You claim to be the ”leading campaign for equality between women and men” and declare that “where there’s an inequality gap between women and men we’re working to close it.”  [...]

Dear Lefty bloggers,
Here is an excerpt from the Times newspaper yesterday morning, that I felt beared repeating:
“Anti-capitalist protesters brought Bank Holiday chaos to Brighton yesterday. Mounted police were forced to retreat as masked demonstrators among a 2,000-strong crowd hurled bricks and bottles. Several missiles were seen to hit police officers and their horses. Three officers [...]

Dear Shami Chakrabarti,
There are moments when I am happy to support your position on civil liberties and related issues, and no doubt other Conservatives will do the same.  However, your reaction to the new video footage of a police officer apparently hitting a G20 protestor was not only unhelpful but demonstrated an inability to understand [...]

Dear Liberal Conspiracy, Newer Labour, Pickled Politics, Lib Dem Voice, Bloggerheads, Quaequam and Harry’s Place,
Silence.  So peaceful, so still.  After your relentless heckling of right-wing bloggers, Conservative or otherwise, following the video footage of Ian Tomlinson, one can be forgiven for thinking that you were in some way interested in establishing the truth about what happened to him.  Indeed, a [...]

Dear Sunny Hundal,
So soon after my letter to you explaining your naivety over the police’s handling of the G20 protestors, the stakes have been raised with the release of a video showing the last moments of Ian Tomlinson, who tragically died of a heart attack at the protests.  The Guardian said on their website last [...]

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 [...]

“officer injured sitting in car”
- one of the 12 reported injuries to police during the Kingsnorth climate camp.  According to an FOI request, ministers’ claims that 70 officers had been injured were completely untrue and none of the 12 injuries that did occur had anything to do with the protestors.  Other recorded incidents included ”stung on finger [...]

Dear Jacqui Smith,
Now that times are tough and government spending is being put under increasing pressure, I’m sure there are many discussions going on behind the scenes about how to manage departmental finances.  There are some areas of centralised spending that I’m sure many people would be happy to see reductions in – pointless quangos, [...]

Dear moronic protestors,
With the credit crunch and 42-day detention stealing most of the headlines this morning, your purile antics have thankfully been pushed off the front pages.  However, I would caution against thinking that this means your behaviour is either appropriate or acceptable.  Despite the important causes that you (occasionally) stand up for, you seem [...]

Dear Chris Allison,
As the police force’s representative on alcohol concerns, I’m glad to see that you have finally been struck down by common sense when you came to the conclusion that the alcohol trade “repeatedly shows that it cannot be relied upon to consistently act in a responsible way.”  This revelation is hardly front-page news, but [...]

Dear David Davis,
Yet another opportunity to show the detrimental effect that this Labour government has on our safety and well-being has presented itself this morning.  I am absolutely appalled to read that the police are targetting middle-class, law-abiding voters in an attempt to meet government targets for handing out penalty notices or cautioning someone.  Even [...]

First we had the ‘Guildford Four’.
Then we had the ‘Birmingham Six’
Then we had the ‘Bridgwater Four’.
And now we have the evil, treacherous and terrifying ‘Seaside five’.

Dear Jacqui Smith,
You really are having a bad time, aren’t you.  As if the sad situation about police pay wasn’t enough to damage your reputation, I know read that police numbers are falling at their fastest rate in seven years.
Apparently there is still money coming into to police forces around the country, but the Government [...]

“Well I think I might be a policeman when I grow up but my mummy says you don’t get paid very much”

Dear David Davis,
I assure you that many other people also have grave concerns about gun crime in this country.  On Christmas Eve, London witnessed yet another horrific shooting that has left a boy fighting for his life.  In a bizarre parallel, this reminds me of the frequent scandals about the government losing our personal data [...]