Is the Tory campaign of 'Tony Blair is a liar' likely to change your vote, and how?

[tortoiseshell]

Just interested - I think it makes me hate the Tories even more, not because I'm sticking up for TB but because I find the whole Tory campaign despicable.

So, the question is - does the Tory campaign change your vote, and if so, from what to what?

[Marina]

No change. Tbh I think all politicians are "liars", but some of them achieve more for society as a whole than others.
Michael Howard as Home Secretary introduced some horrible legislation (enabling local councils to close down sites for travellers is one example we are still having to deal with) and was part of Margaret "no such thing as society" Thatcher's cabinet. I think the distance of a couple more decades will make it all the clearer how destructive the eighties were for this country and how deeply damaging the Conservative Government's legacy has been. Ugh.
I am not a Labour voter for various reasons, including the war in Iraq, but like you, I feel the Tories have shot themselves in the foot again on this one and it's despicable, as you say.

[Caligula]

Nope.

I know he's a liar. But he's a liar who introduced the minimum wage, tax credits, better maternity and paternity leave, help with childcare - all the things the other bunch of liars didn't.

[bundle]

no change. given the current level of apathy and expected low turnout, this election is more than ever about who to vote against rather than for (ditto marina's feelings about Howard)

[Marina]

Much more succinct than me Caligula. He's a good liar, Michael Howard and co are very bad liars. And dear old Champagne Charlie is a liar who hasn't had his day yet.

[docket]

Nope, I do believe TB is a liar but MH is just vile and would be a far worse bet IMO

[hunkermunker]

I can't vote Labour, because I don't trust Blair - never did and never will. The Iraq war just confirmed things for me, it didn't change my mind about him.

But equally, I cannot vote Tory. They are asking us to believe that they don't lie, they are asking us to forget negative equity and the misery of repossession, the mess they made of the economy and privatising of things like cleaning hospitals. The "Are you thinking what we're thinking?" campaign makes me retch - they're trying to be all conspiratorial with me, but I don't forget that easily.

So for me, my vote is a yellow one. It always has been, but I do look at the issues each election and weigh up what I feel comfortable with.

[tortoiseshell]

MH on Paxman - (said in slimy voice) - 'We would abolish the 'new deal' - we don't believe it is working' - umm, that's why you had 3 million unemployed? Presumably the same goes for minimum wage etc!

Uuurrghh, I just SO hate him!

[hunkermunker]

MH with Paxman - pulling those bits of paper out of his pocket to quote things - made him look like a lunatic tramp with egg on his chin and string holding his trousers up, IMO.

[Marina]

snurk hunker, I missed that. Looking forward to tonight's Question Time. Do you think MH will have a ferret on a string with him, or will he have left Norman Tebbit at home this time?

[sis]

Nope - totally agree with Caligula.

[tortoiseshell]

Read this - particularly like 'his decency as a human being is acknowledged even by political opponents'....!!!!

[crunchie]

The ting that puzzles me is, if the war in Iraq makes you change your mind as to who to vote for, who do you actually vote for? As teh tory party say they would have gone into the war too. The only vote therefore is libdem (unless you want to vote for a more marginal party)

[Marina]

Oh you made me visit the Tory party website Tortoiseshell, that is way worse than that bat

[sis]

sorry, my last post reads very badly. What I meant to say was that no, it won't change my voting intentions and I agree with Caligula's post.

[Marina]

Yellow, like hunker. Not just because of stance on Iraq, but it's a factor.

[docket]

UGH. Shame there isn't a vomit emotion..

[hunkermunker]

Why are people so averse to voting Lib Dem?

SO many times I've heard "I'd like to vote for them, but they'll never get in"

Well, of course they bloody won't if nobody votes for them!

[donnie]

I didn't see any of the Paxman interviews, I wish I had. I think the current Tory campaign is ridiculous as well as petty and spiteful.I actually think it will work in Labour's favour as it reveals such desperation and vindictiveness on the part of the Tories. And as for the 'are you thinking what we are thinking?' line of attack - the only thing I am thinking is that those posters are a load of crap!

[FLUM]

Would think it more important for them to use their energy to explain why we WOULD want the Conservatives rather than why we would NOT want Labour. Seems all A*se about face to me. Just makes them look like mud slingers.

[hunkermunker]

(Marina, ferret on a string - PMSL!)

[bundle]

it's not cos they won't get in for me hunker, it's because it splits the anti-tory vote..and they could sneak in

[docket]

My last post referred to tortoiseshell's link btw, not anyones intention to vote lib dem!

[Caligula]

HM, I'd vote Libdem if I lived in a marginal where they were the primary contender. But I live in a marginal where the sitting Labour MP is one of "the usual suspects" he voted against the war and can be relied upon to vote against all the crap Labour want to bring in, while for all the good stuff. While a Lib Dem vote would risk letting in the Tory candidate.

[hunkermunker]

But I also know people who are voting Tory because they don't want Labour to get in and they'd rather be voting Lib Dem!

[tortoiseshell]

That's interesting - so far nobody has changed their mind on account of the 'lies' campaign. Anyone else?