George Osborne told constituent he would scrap tuition fees when in opposition

A letter written by George Osborne thirteen years ago has emerged in which he said he would scrap tuition fees when the Conservatives next came into government, describing them as a "tax on learning".  

He told constituent Rosy Williams "I thought you would be interested to know that the Conservatives have just announced that we will scrap tuition fees altogether when we are next in government. Education will once again be free for students."

At the time, Labour were about to introduce tuition fees at a cost of £3,000 a year to students.  In 2012, Osborne was chancellor in the government which allowed an increase of tuition fees up to £12,000.

The letter, written in 2003, was posted on Facebook

The BBC quoted a spokesperson for George Osborne as saying "Nearly 10 years later in 2012 when the government introduced the new funding system for universities the economic situation had changed and we needed to put universities on a strong, sustainable financial footing."

Is this proof that politicians break promises? Or just evidence of the way parties change policies (note that it was written five years before the financial crash)?