Isn't it a shame defeated General Election contender Mike Weatherley, the Tory candidate for Brighton Pavilion, should spoil what at first appeared to be a gracious and dignified letter (Letters, May 12) in praise of the re-elected Labour MP, David Lepper, by having a totally unnecessary swipe at the Green Party?

While Mr Weatherley, quite rightly, congratulates Mr Lepper who walloped him by 5,000 votes, why does he not also praise the Green Party candidate, Keith Taylor, who came a very close third?

Mr Weatherley claims the Greens came "nowhere near election" but he disingenuously fails to point out there were fewer than 900 votes between himself and Mr Taylor.

Is Mr Weatherley embarrassed Mr Taylor performed so well he almost knocked the Tories into third place?

Perhaps, instead of criticising the Greens, Mr Weatherley would do well to examine more closely the reasons why the Conservatives failed to make much headway in the General Election, not only in Sussex but the in rest of the country, too.

In my opinion, one reason is there are still far too many Conservatives who think sniping, sneering and cheap jibes at your opponents somehow impresses the electorate.

It doesn't, Mr Weatherley, it's a major turn-off.

As a Conservative myself, I congratulate Mr Taylor on his impressive result.

The Conservative Party hierarchy might also care to reflect on the fact they barely mentioned the environment during the election, which would seem to indicate this extremely important issue is of little concern to them.

-Peter Lilley, Hove