SIR – Tory Councillor Roger Taylor (T&A, December 29) seems to have a bee in his bonnet about the NHS.

As with all Tory assaults on public institutions, they invariably lay the ground by besmirching the efficiency of the organisation in order to justify allowing their friends to get their snouts into the trough Councillor Taylor is most certainly not alone in having pumped huge amounts of money into the NHS.

The main difference, I suggest, is that most fair-minded people will support the humanitarian ethos upon which the NHS was founded. Phrases like “from the cradle to the grave” and “from each according to his means” – to “each according to their needs” spring to mind.

I would also venture that most fair-minded people will very much resent having their contributions redirected into the coffers of an unaccountable, profit-seeking company.

Given Councillor Taylor’s most recent disgrace following his well-publicised outburst on the Hillsborough Inquiry and the Stephen Lawrence case, I am frankly aghast he is able to continue to address himself as ‘councillor’. Clearly the Tory party disciplinary machinery is working at its usual level of efficiency.

Christopher Hindle, Osterley Grove, Bradford