The Tories don’t want to be called that anymore, according to a letter by Michael Salter to all the major television channels. I think that’s pretty understandable. No doubt, the less favourable press (the Guardian included) will have tried to cast this as the Tories ditching their extensive history, and trying to appear ‘modern and funky’. But I doubt that’s what the issue really is: They’re just asking to be called by their party name. There’s little use in the Average Joe saying ‘I really like the Tories’ if they are then confused when voting to find that there is no ‘Tory’ candidate on the list.

I think that this measure is somewhat futile, especially since the news channels are always wanting ever-shorter headlines for their slugs (ITV and Sky) or astons (BBC News 24), and ‘Conservatives’ doesn’t fit the bill nearly as well as ‘Tories’. But it certainly makes sense to ask to be called by their proper name, and maybe it will reduce some of the ‘Tory’ references after all. Good luck to them.