Letter: Absolutely not a Conservative

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I WRITE in response to Ian Aitken ("Let's get one thing straight: Tony Blair is not a Tory", 25 October).

Absolutely not. The radical constitutional initiatives endorsed by Mr Blair are sufficient to demolish this particular myth. But he succeeds in appealing to the same electorate as the previous Tory regime with his repetitive emphasis upon toughness.

New Labour and Mr Blair also subscribe completely to the idea of wholesale opportunity for all, meritocratic capitalism, while paying lip service to the idea of fairness for the less advantaged. He does not embrace the idea of equality, of course; the Prime Minister offers the specious, glossy and simplistically populist political line of equality of opportunity.

This gives a clue to the Blair identity. As he presides over a country which is Americanised as never before, Mr Blair is, in effect, a democrat, US variety, and unfortunately we respond favourably to his Americanised manner.

D JOHNSON

Stoke-on-Trent