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.

“It’s the gossip of the moment that could become the story of the year.”
- a comment by the French newspaper Le Journal du Dimanche, as rumours that Nicolas Sarkozy and his wife Carla Bruni-Sarkozy are both having affairs gain momentum in France.  The rumour first emerged on Twitter, and was followed by a report in [...]

“You may not recognise marriage in a tax system, but you sure do in a political system”
- William Hague taunts Harriet Harman over the fact that her husband, Jack Dromey, is to fight a reputedly safe Labour seat at the general election.

“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

“We call on all believers and sensible people to say no to celebrating this day, since it contradicts not only the norms of Islam, but also recognised human morality.”
- a statement from a council of Muslim leaders in Russia’s Nizhny Novgorod region, who are calling for a “ban” on celebrating Valentine’s Day, which is growing in popularity [...]

Dear Advertising Standards Authority (ASA),
You never seem to stay out of the headlines for long, and many incidents that you are involved in provide plentiful entertainment.  I have just discovered that more than 1,000 people have joined a Facebook campaign to ban billboards advertising for a website that promotes adultery, but thankfully you have shown common sense [...]

“Are you still single and bitter?”
- the question posed by the match-making website set up by China’s central government to help thousands of busy but lonely government workers find love at work.   The official government website for the “Central Government Unions Magpie Bridge” — featuring a young man and woman peering at each other around [...]

Dear Nick Clegg,
In the modern political era, it is almost a given that policy announcements and speeches are leaked to the media way so that some interest can be drummed up in advance.  It was therefore quite refreshing for you to spring a surprise attack on David Cameron this week, although – as we have [...]

Dear David Willetts,
Nice to have you back on the front pages after assuming a relatively quiet role over the past year or so.  As the Conservative Party is about to release a Green Paper on the family, now is a good time to raise two questions: have the Conservatives got the right policies on families, [...]

From the BBC:
Lawyers for US golfer Tiger Woods have obtained a UK injunction preventing certain information purportedly about him being published. The order was granted by a judge at the High Court in London, and concerns alleged information which cannot be disclosed for legal reasons. Last week Woods apologised to his family for “personal sins”. [...]

“People are not born homosexual, they become homosexual, for different reasons: education issues or because they did not develop their own identity during adolescence. Perhaps they aren’t guilty but by acting against the dignity of the body they will certainly not enter the Kingdom of Heaven.”
- the clearly not-very-enlightened Cardinal Javier Lozano Barragan, 76, who [...]

“Apparently, the only person who can beat Tiger Woods with a golf club is his wife.”
- the joke ranked number one in the list of top 10 jokes about Tiger Woods in The Times today regarding his infamous car crash in which he drove into a fire hydrant before hitting a tree.  Rumour has it that [...]

“Sex Degrees of Separation”
- the name given to the new online calculator from Lloyds Pharmacy, which helps you work out how many partners you have had in the sense of exposure to risk of sexually transmitted diseases.  According to their figures, the average British man or woman has slept with 2.8 million people – albeit [...]

“Never tell your wife you are unworthy of her. Let her find out for herself.”
- Mark Sanford, South Carolina’s temporary governor.  For six days in June 2009, Sanford’s whereabouts were unknown and there was media coverage of what was described as his disappearance. Subsequently he reappeared and reported that he had been in Argentina with [...]

“It’s down to conversation and personality”
- Lembit Opik’s response when asked about his success with beautiful women.  44-year-old Lembit’s latest squeeze is 21-year-old former Wonderbra model Katie Green (pictured below).

“I’m just glad I didn’t hurt myself.”
- Kevin Heinz, who recently got married to Jill Peterson in St.Paul, Minnesota. The couple’s joyous wedding dance featuring them boogieing down the aisle to the altar has become a Web sensation.  The dance sequence that opened their wedding ceremony has been viewed more than 4.75 million times since [...]

From the Guardian:
Teen pregnancy and disease rates rose sharply during Bush years, agency finds

Teenage pregnancies and syphilis have risen sharply among a generation of American school girls who were urged to avoid sex before marriage under George Bush’s evangelically-driven education policy, according to a new report by the US’s major public health body.  In a [...]

IN THE RED CORNER: A row has been sparked by a short video clip available online dated July 2000, in which Michal Kaminski (pictured above), leader of the European Conservatives and Reformists and a member of Poland’s Law and Justice Party, uses the word “pedal” to refer to gay rights campaigners in a TV interview. This [...]

“We welcome homosexuals, we don’t want to exclude people, but we want them to repent and be changed”
- The Bishop of Rochester, Dr Michael Nazir-Ali

Dear David Cameron,
While I take no issue with your liberal views on homosexuality that have been rightly welcomed by many people, your apparent change of heart on the now infamous ‘Section 28′ is not something that I can subscribe to.  Section 28 of the Local Government Act 1988, which stated that a local authority “shall [...]

Dear Chris Bryant,
Obviously you’re feeling a bit left out as Foreign Office Minister these days, so you’ve decided to cause a stir in the newspapers this morning with your comments about civil partnerships and homosexuality.  Personally, I think your views are vindictive for the most part, even though you might have inadvertently stumbled across some issues [...]

“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 [...]

“Charles Darwin argued that sexual preferences can shape the progress of evolution, creating displays, such as the peacock’s tail, that are inexplicable by natural selection alone. It’s safe to say, however, that he did not anticipate the lesbian albatrosses of Hawaii. Nor bisexual bonobos. Let alone sadomasochistic bat bugs or the gay penguins of New [...]

“It was, simply put, the most stunning abdication since Edward VIII gave up the British throne for Wallis Simpson in 1936.”
- Rick Casey of the Houston Chronicle, writing about last week’s resignation of Joseph Lown, the popular mayor in the small Texan city of San Angelo.  Lown resigned after he revealed that he had fallen madly in [...]

Dear Alistair Campbell,
The rumours of your involvement in Labour’s renewed efforts over the past 12 months to hog the media spotlight continue to rumble on, but you have not wasted any time in seeking out a new blogging career.  Your blog has given you with a regular outlet for political analysis, but quite frankly your [...]

Dear Professor Le Grand,
As an architect of some novel policies in the past, perhaps I shouldn’t be too surprised at your latest offering.  Your plan is to make couples who have children outside wedlock become automatically married by the State, even in the absence of a ceremony or taking any vows.  I know that you like [...]