Typically, Simon Battle gets it wrong(Letters, January 12).It is incorrect to say Hove Conservatives have lost five elections in a row.

In 1999, we defeated Labour in Hove and beat them in the European elections a month later.

We secured a swing against Ivor Caplin in the last election but not enough to elect a Conservative MP.

The Hove and Portslade Conservative Association is taking a purely commercial decision with regard to the accommodation of the Conservative office, not that it is any business of Coun Battle's.

-Mike Switzer, Chairman, Hove and Portslade Conservative Association