Dear Rishi

As most readers will know already, I am like many others a despairing conservative; my party having forgotten its values and history. However, as a conservative I also believe, probably naively, that it is always worth trying to point out to those running the party a few of the things that they would do well to sort out. I have not written to the Prime Minister for a while, but what else can an ordinary voter do who doesn’t have a virtual right of audience like Bill Gates or Elon Musk?

I despair at the dishonesty of modern politics, for instance the belief spouted by perfectly sane people that ‘he’ can be ‘she’ or vice versa. There is a rot at the very core of the fruit. Why is it OK for a now ex BBC employee to describe white people as ‘parasites’? If I wanted to use the same term about her, I would no doubt be attended by a dozen police officers and hauled before the beak. Why are those being subjected to mob intimidation by pro-Palestinian groups not prepared to call out their attackers? Why can Humza Yousaf describe Scotland as ‘racist’ because those in senior positions are all white? In my book he is as racist as anything Enoch Powell ever said. Equality before the law has been forgotten, with ridiculous and pointless laws designed to curb free speech and protect certain groups, who then use it to bully others.

This frustration has led me to send Mr Sunak another letter, which like the others will probably do no more than block the No 10 shredder, but at least I can say that I have tried.

13 February 2024

Rt.Hon Rishi Sunak
Prime Minister,
10 Downing Street,
London,
SW1A 1AA.

Dear Prime Minister,

I wrote to you last year saying that I had stopped donating to the Conservative Party, but that I would remain a member in the hope that you would sort your government out and actually get to grips with the real problems afflicting our country.

I have seen no improvement; in fact I would say that the situation has got even worse with endless petty laws being proposed and some enacted. The proposed ban on the sale of tobacco to those at present under 14 for the rest of their lives is one example, a law that is just so time wasting, impractical and stupid. Cigarettes are disgusting, but you would be better passing a law banning Prime Ministers from infantilising people. We may, in your eyes, need to be protected from ourselves, but let us make our own decisions on how we live our lives – that is what freedom is all about. The same applies to the recent ban on ownership of XL Bully dogs, which is not a clearly defined breed so can’t be clearly identified. There are already laws that make owners responsible for the actions of their pets, and it is these that should be applied and if necessary toughened up rather than imposing difficult to enforce and freedom denying bans. Ironically, you have been trying to ban electric dog training collars, devices that from my experience meant one of our dogs lived a full life instead of having to be destroyed for sheep worrying at an early age. Three example laws that will ultimately add to Police caseload when they should be concentrating on tackling brazen shop lifting, an epidemic of fraud, mugging and other violent crime, plus following up on tagging breaches.

Instead of this fiddling at the edges, major problems are being ignored or in some cases exacerbated by your government’s complete dereliction of duty.   Defence of the realm is meant to be the primary duty of government, but instead our armed forces have been reduced to a rump. Indeed, instead of sorting out naval recruitment a further two frigates are to be decommissioned reducing the ones available to nine. This should be causing you sleepless nights. We are unable to provide a deterrent in the Falklands, let alone enough escort vessels to allow our carriers to put to sea though that would be almost pointless, as you have not bothered to purchase the aircraft for which the carriers were built. How do you intend to protect our imports let alone our ports and coastal traffic, our wind turbines and undersea cables without a viable Navy of a minimum of 30 Frigates and Destroyers, fifteen less than at the fall of the Berlin wall? We rely on international trade and without a viable Navy will not be able to protect vital food & raw material imports, let alone take the battle to the enemy should the need arise.

The Navy is not alone in being in a dire state, the RAF is under-equipped, the Army undermanned and suffering overstretch, and that is during what is meant to be peacetime. In all three services, recruitment is at least in part performed by a private company. You are asking people to die for their country, yet a recruit for the Navy can get all the way through the process without ever actually meeting anyone from the Navy face to face. Even the Admiralty board is done as an online recorded interview; this is bad. You want people to potentially lay down their lives for their comrades, their King and country, yet at no point is the recruit introduced to those with whom he will serve. This method may save money, but it doesn’t achieve results because it dehumanises the process of joining the service family. In addition, is it surprising that there are problems with recruitment when greater emphasis seems to be given to diversity than capability and Net Zero than battle readiness? But then perhaps the plan is that we rely on our allies, a Trumpian US or a Putin friendly Turkey and Hungary. Why should the US taxpayer be expected to defend us when we choose to run down our armed services? As to the much claimed 2.5% of GDP that we spend on Defence, this is only as a result of creative accounting as it now includes the Nuclear Deterrent and Military pensions which were previously funded directly by the Treasury, so the real figure is nearer 1.5% – way below the NATO minimum of 2%.

It is not just our armed services that seem to have been reduced to a dysfunctional rump, but almost every public service from probate to the Police, courts, NHS, education, roads, local authorities etc. In virtually every case it has been forgotten that they are servants of the public, and instead those working in these departments seem to believe that the organisations are there to serve them. An obsession with green and diversity wokery rather than serving the public seems to infect the entire public sector, and it has all happened whilst you have been at the top of government. Your predecessor was told to get a grip; he didn’t seem to take heed, and you and your cabinet certainly haven’t either.

As a start, you have to end the virus of working from home – this is a luxury that as a country we can’t afford. If public services were all working at 150% efficiency then WFH could be allowed, but until we are in that position it must be ended and all public servants brought back into the office. It simply rubs salt into taxpayers’ wounds to hear that civil servants will be allowed to work remotely from the beach. ‘Work’ no, much of WFH is simply skiving and has to be called out as such. Those of us working in factories, amongst others, are being taken for mugs. Secondly, the court blockages must be cleared, the discredited laws relating to Covid repealed and the Covid cases coming to court cancelled and fines paid, refunded. This will free up thousands of court spaces and right some of the wrongs of the Covid authoritarianism. As for the Police, there needs to be a much greater focus put on real crime and a repeal of ridiculous and difficult to enforce legislation such as that on hate speech, online safety and blasphemy that involve a lot of police time tending to criminalise the innocent. We don’t have the luxury to divert Police resources away from burglary, fraud and crimes against the person. Online safety is probably far better addressed by requiring platforms to only allow people who have verified their identify to post under their own name.  This is effectively the case in print media and seems to prevent abuse there. Root out all the diversity trainers from the public services and military, they are not required and are corrosive to the delivery of public and military service. Promoting racism against the majority population is simply going to cause the most massive backlash that will lead to a far less tolerant society.

As a country we can’t afford the luxury of almost continuous self-critical navel gazing, and we can’t afford the ongoing efforts of your government to avoid the key problems facing the country with all sorts of diversions like supporting a specific law against the theft of cats. We have to get the country moving again and concentrate on delivering efficient value for money public services. You and your government have to innovate in the way public services are delivered, success is not measured by the amount of public money spent. Don’t take on new responsibilities such as free child care when you are unable even to repair the potholes. Surely your ministers, heading government departments, can crack the whip and sort these problems out, or are they just happy enjoying the high life without getting stuck into the detail? Where is the leadership? Instead, we see rule by untouchable pressure groups like Stonewall and a myriad of green organisations with voters totally disregarded.

Come on Mr Sunak get a grip, you may actually find that if you do Conservative fortunes will actually improve!

Yours faithfully,

Alastair MacMillan

Cc: Rt.Hon Jeremy Hunt and others

Alastair MacMillan runs White House Products Ltd, a manufacturer, distributor and exporter of hydraulic components to over 100 countries. He is a supporter of the Jobs Foundation.

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