Letters From A Tory

Dear Alan Duncan,

Well done on an organised campaign against Post Office closures.  The rebellion of 20 or so Labour MPs is a nasty jab in the ribs for Gordon Brown and he won’t easily forget it.  However, what troubles me is that the Post Office represents one of those issues where the Conservatives have yet to stamp their authority on it, despite having the public’s support.

The best parallel I can draw is between Post Office closures and the EU.  The campaign for the referendum on the Lisbon Treaty was a fantastic achievement, even though it didn’t achieve the desired result.  There was a minor rebellion from Labour MPs and the Conseratives won a moral victory on the issue, just like they did last night.  But, as with the Lisbon Treaty, the Conservatives haven’t really spelled out what they are going to do to save the Post Offices should they come into power.  Personally I don’t see why the Post Office should survive in its pseudo-monopoly format because it, like the NHS, is a thing from the past and is well past its sell-by date.  However, even if you don’t agree with me and have a plan to revive the Post Office, where is it?  Why are you not spelling out your vision of how the Post Office could be turned into a viable and efficient operation?  I would have thought that with the prospect of an election possibly no more than 12 months away, you would be keen to get your vision and your message out there, and so would the rest of the party - but you didn’t.

Obviously there is time to rectify this, but the Conservative’s emphasis on just attacking Labour without supporting it with clear, concise and affordable alternatives is surely running out of steam.  We need to be seen as the government-in-waiting and much fun as slagging of Labour is, it won’t get us into 10 Downing Street.

Yours sincerely,

A.Tory