Dear David Cameron

Dear David,

19 july 2009

Thank you for your e-mail

and thanks for reminding me about the Tory fascination with helicopters and high-tech defence contracts, and the Westland debacle, a Tory squabble over lucrative contracts to build helicopters.

You Tories have always been exercised about high tech weaponry, capable of inflicting damage to an enemy. Unfortunately such damage can, and has been indiscriminate, particularly when the enemy has been hard to find and impossible to identify.

An efficient means of destruction which indiscriminately obliterates can alienate hearts and minds, and are not always as efficient as you Tories might suggest.,

You might bleat about wars where “men and women are putting their lives on the line to help keep this country safe,” but I am wondering what danger the last Tory war was protecting us from, and what danger we were exposed to in the Falklands, or was it just an exercise in manic high tech chopper capability; and a deadly futile war game for the British army and Argentine conscripts.

But where there was no shortage of Helicopters but where there was a deficit of means to overcome those damn blasted “exorcets” that tormented British soldiers exposed by Tory pride

Dear David, don't exploit for political gain, the courage and ambition of those in current battle, until the battle is done and the dead are buried, at the very least.

Don’t be a jerk.

Your very best friend, Leslie.

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Dear Leslie,

19 july 2009

There's been a tragic loss of life in our armed forces over the last two weeks. I think they have reminded all of us that over three thousand miles away from our daily lives, several thousand men and women are putting their lives on the line to help keep this country safe.

The very least we can do here at home is make sure everything is done to give them what they need to fulfil their dangerous mission, and to reduce the risks as much as we can. That's why I have been saying for three years that our forces in Helmand desperately need more helicopters.

When he was Chancellor, Gordon Brown cut the helicopter budget by £1.4billion - a bad mistake. The result is that after eight years in Afghanistan our troops have fewer than 30 helicopters in Helmand. This compares to over 100 helicopters that the Americans have for the same number of troops. It's a scandal that the Government has not dealt with this shortage.

It's also important that we remember that the dangers our troops face don't disappear when they leave the battlefield - the battlefield can leave mental as well as physical scars. That's why we held a conference this week to highlight the severe mental health problems that some veterans have.

David Cameron