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 Chris Bryant,
Obviously you’re feeling a bit left out as Foreign [...]

Dear readers,
Having just visited Iain Dale’s blog, I must sadly report that he has suddenly decided to make it a personal mission to encourage his readers to convert to Islam.  His recent post on banning the burka sparked a huge debate in his comments section, much as it did when I addressed the issue on this blog.  However, [...]

Dear Nicolas Sarkozy,
Today you will make a speech that could spark another ferocious debate over religious symbols and Islam in France.  Having caused uproar over your decision to ban any religious symbols in French schools, you are now considering banning the burka and other Islamic clothing which French MPs claim is degrading to women.  It [...]

“People might think I’m nuts, but I like to think it’s Jesus looking out for us.”
- one of Margaret Moran’s constituents celebrating her resignation Claire Allen, 36, who is convinced that she found an image of Jesus on the underside of a Marmite lid. Her husband Gareth said: “The kids are still eating it, but we [...]

Dear Aude-Claire Malton,
Your decision to file an official complaint against the Church of Scientology in France has created something of a stir.  This week, the Church goes on trial on charges of organised fraud in a case that could lead to the nationwide dissolution of the controversial organisation.  The Church’s “celebrity centre” spiritual association and its [...]

“It says more about them than it says about me.”
- Michael Savage, a US radio talk show host, reacting to the government’s decision to ban him from entering the UK.  He told his radio audience that he was intending to sue Jacqui Smith, who he described as the “lunatic … Home Secretary of England”.  ”To link [...]

Dear Ed Balls,
For months now, you have refused to set schools free from state control, ensuring that local authorities maintain their grip on our education system and condemn it to many more years of failure and stagnation.  It is, therefore, ironic that when you finally announce some element of freedom for schools, it is the [...]

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 [...]

“I have a very lovely psychiatrist who works with me in my offices and his Christian background is that he tries to help homosexuals – trying to turn away from what they are engaged in. I’m happy to put any homosexual in touch with this gentleman and I have met people who have turned around [...]

Dear Inayat Bunglawala,
It was good to hear you, as a representative of the Muslim Council of Britain, come out against the disgusting protests from Muslims in Luton during the homecoming parade for the Royal Anglians.  When Muslims cross the line, condemnation from groups that supposedly represent them is often notable by its absence.  Nevertheless, I think you’ve been [...]

So, let me just clarify something – we want hateful, anti-British Muslims to stay IN this country, but we want to keep people like Geert Wilders OUT ?
I would now like to repeat the reasons offered by the Home Office as to why Geert Wilders was kept out, but this time substitute out any reference to [...]

“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 [...]

Dear Oona Stannard
As head of the Catholic Education Service in this country, you have probably been watching the increasingly fraught relationship between religion and public services with a keen interest.  Christianity has come in for some rough treatment over the past few weeks and months as Labour drive home their ‘Equality’ and ‘Diversity’ agendas.  Your fear that [...]

Dear ‘Iftikhar’,
I don’t make a habit of writing letters to people who leave comments on my blog, but your comment yesterday in response to the news that a number of Muslim schools have been caught promoting fundamentalist beliefs were without doubt the most appalling remarks I have ever seen on this blog on any topic.  [...]

“The Holy Prophet stated the person who plays chess is like one who dips his hands in the blood of a swine (pig).”
- a message on a website linked to from a Muslim primary school recently.  A report by the think-tank Civitas found Islamic fundamentalism was being promoted on websites at some Muslim schools.  One site linked [...]

Dear Archbishop Gianfranco Ravasi,
Better late than never.  There are, sadly, many Christians who still feel that Darwin needs to be knocked down a few pegs and attacked whenever possible.  In fact, the very mention of Darwin causes swords to be drawn and I think it’s fair to say that convincing either believers or critics of Darwin [...]

Dear Jennie Cain,
I was hoping that my letter to Julia Robinson, the headteacher who was sacked because Muslim parents took a disliking to her, was going to be the last of its kind for a while.  Last week, nurse Caroline Petrie was told she could go back to work having been suspended for two months [...]

“I shall probably go to Britain anyway on Thursday. Let us see if they put me in chains on arrival. It is an unbelievable decision made by a group of cowards.”
- Geert Wilders, the Dutch politician who made the controversial ‘Fitna’ film about Islam, on being refused entry to the UK.  Dutch Foreign Minister Maxime [...]

Dear Julia Robinson,
Now that you have resigned as headteacher of Meersbrook Bank primary school in Sheffield, the details of your disgraceful treatment have begun to emerge.  A teacher at your school said that you had been under a lot of pressure, while a parent claimed that you were forced out along with the school’s chairman of governors.  You [...]

Dear Geert Wilders,
What a sad day.  In amongst the predictions of a global meltdown and government’s fighting for their survival, it strikes me as a strange time to attack you – but attack you the Dutch government has.  Your film entitled Fitna (which can be viewed HERE) caused quite a stir in political and religious [...]

“There is about as much likelihood of there being a god as there is a tooth fairy”
- Richard Dawkins

Although some people seem to have forgotten this, Christmas is historically a Christian festival.  As a result, it always brings a warm fuzzy glow to my heart when this time of year is filled to the brim with Christians really putting that whole ‘love thy neighbour’ thing into practice.

“Jesus wasn’t hermaphrodite, neither was he a girl.”
- Steve Goddard, co-editor of the Christian website Ship of Fools, responding to a reader’s comment about the possibility of changing the well-known refrain of O Come All Ye Faithful – “O come let us adore Him” – to “O come in adoration” for fear that the original was [...]

Dear Rev Prof Michael Reiss,
Being Director of Education at the Royal Society sounds like a fairly impressive position to hold, which makes it all the more remarkable that you have spouted such ignorant rubbish this morning.  You believe that excluding alternatives to evolution as an explanation for the origin of life from science lessons is [...]

“This discussion of homosexuality we are having in the church is not so significant because of what it says about homosexuality, but because of what it says about God.”
- Rt Rev Gene Robinson, the openly gay Bishop of New Hampshire, who was forced to halt his address in London yesterday after a demonstrator repeatedly called [...]

I can’t make my mind about whether THIS STORY shows that God doesn’t exist or shows that God just has a cruel sense of humour.  Hmmm.

And there you are, just like me, thinking that surely on a day where the Government nationalises Northern Rock and destroys everything that is sacred in the world of market forces and capitalism, things just couldn’t get any worse.  Well, guess what – they just did.

Dear Dr Charles Tannock,
I always find it heartening to read about a politician who speaks their mind about religious issues, seeing as so many of your colleagues are too afraid to do so.  Yet again I find myself reading about Muslims failing to adhere to rules that apply to everyone else – this time in [...]