to ask you why you would vote Tory?

[Dromedary]

I have a nasty feeling that if an election were held now the Tories might get in again.
Lots of you out there support the Tories.
Some of the rest of us find that very hard to understand.
Can you explain your reasoning for us? I for one promise not to bash you for your views on this thread (but may do so on other threads).

[alli1968]

Ephiny - spot on

my father was adopted from a childrens home, my grandfather in a spurgeons orphanage until the age of 18, my husband and I both went to state comprehensives. I now work in the city (not fat cat - back office) my husband is teacher. I find it exceptionally depressing that milliband balls cooper blair et al with their oxbridge privileged backgound try to pretend that they understand any better what a family would need / want / aspire to. Everyone agrees that a real and effective safety net is essential to support us when times are tough but institutionalising a lifestyle is just patronising and lazy.

Upthread there were many answers that suggested that tory voters were the only group that voted on the basis of self interest - REALLY????

[Viviennemary]

Smug, out of touch, knowing what's best for everyone. Try Harriet Harman. What a pain that woman is.

[theodorakisses]

Harman is a twat and a corrupt twat of the highest order. I don't care who she represents, she should be locked up.

[CogitOCrapNotMoreSprouts]

"I never gossip about anyone I know or presume to understand their circumstances."

Never? :) Then you're a saintly creature indeed and your place in heaven is assured. But gossip goes on, people compare themselves with their neighbours and, if the deck seems to be stacked against them and for others - rightly or wrongly - that's how resentment starts. I'm not arguing that newspapers or politicians haven't picked up the baton ... even Milliband's conference speech referenced the something for nothing culture created by his predecessor... but I think it's capitalising on an prevailing sentiment and is not exclusively tory.

[ethelb]

I'm not a Labour or Tory voter but I have never understood the Harman hate.

What's wrong with her?

[theodorakisses]

My Iraqi friend who is in my house right now said he can give you 4reasons. His parents and 2 sisters.

[theodorakisses]

She is corrupt scum. From car accidents to expenses, she is a champagne socialist of the worst extreme. I do hate her, she is the labour thatcher figure. I voted for those scumbags as well. Even if I could, I would never ever vote again.

[RedHelenB]

They had a lot of time under Thatcher to get people off benefits but this didn't happen did it? Ultimately we are not going to have full employment again under capitalism.

[HappyMummyOfOne]

Not all Tory voters are rich, many will be normally earners who just agree more with the Tory party stance than other parties.

Labour borrowed money to throw at people. How many dropped to part time hours knowing that tax credits would top up their salary, chose to have just one earner at the expense of other working tax payers, how many had children knowing the state would be paying for them or living in areas that working people cant afford to.

We need better than that for the future so that children have better lives. Working and supporting yourself should be the norm and benefits should be lower by a good percentage to ensure people dont see benefits as a lifestyle choice. Stop paying out everytime somebody has a child and put the emphasis back on the parents to ensure children are accomodated in the household budget not the states. Childcare costs could be subsidised and more money could be ploughed into schools if we abolished CB.

Encouraging people to stand in their own two feet is a policy that can only be good for the country.

[CogitOCrapNotMoreSprouts]

I thought 'employment' as a construct went rather hand in hand with capitalism?

[juneau]

Ultimately we are not going to have full employment again under capitalism.

So what do you suggest - communism?

And this is a ridiculous comment:
Yes the grammar school argument. As if there wasnt enough segregation going on now with the remergence of the deserving and undeserving poor currently peddled out by the Tories. Giving a golden ticket to a minority at the expense of the majority of children being effectively written off before they reach their teens. Classic Tory.

My mum failed her 11+
She later went on to get a BEd and MA

The only way to level the professional playing field and give those from poor backgrounds the chance for social mobility is the allow the brightest to rise to the top early and be pushed academically. What do you think happens in a private school? I'll tell you. Children are streamed and taught according to ability. So the brightest get to be taught at a faster pace and get pushed further. The less able are taught more slowly, but also to a high standard, thereby allowing each child to fulfil his/her potential. There are no 'prizes for all'. The bright are encouraged to excel - and they do. Labour's policy of lumping everyone in together may be egalitarian, but it does a huge disservice to everyone as it's very hard for one teacher to teach to the various abilities all sitting together in one classroom.

[pmcblonde]

I loathe and detest political tribalism. The mud slinging and adherence to completely outdated left/right tropes to galvanise the unthinking into knee jerk electoral responses has been horribly destructive in politics since the 1970s onwards. Negative campaigning is destroying public debate in this country.

All parties are stuffed to the gills with professional politicians with little experience of life outside of politics from their teens onwards which gives them lots of experience of politicking and no experience of management, governance or policy making. The professionalisation of politics has been a bad, bad thing. There are fewer independent voices, fewer politicians with other interests that they have been able to continue once elected and this is highly detrimental to effective governance.

I firmly believe that the state should be as small as possible. I believe that people should be responsible for themselves and their dependants to the greatest extent possible. I believe in civil liberties and the freedom to do as I please within a sensible legal framework providing I do no harm to others. I would describe myself as a classic liberal - I'm economically conservative and socially liberal (permissive). I believe in public service and taking a socially responsible approach to how I live my life - and I believe that is my choice and shouldn't be inflicted on others. All of this is classic Toryism however poorly articulated in recent years.

I'm not sure I can easily forgive the Labour Party for ID cards and their curtailment of civil liberties under Blair and Brown. I don't think I can forgive them for forcing their choice and morality on other people. I find elements of the Conservative Party deeply unpleasant but at least current leadership is challenging that.

I wish that David Davies and David Miliband had won their respective leadership elections - politics would be a more intellectually rigorous place

[EdgarAllanPond]

there is still little difference between in real policy terms between labour and and the conservatives.

you could go through Gordon Browns manifesto with a pen and check off virtually everything as having been also proposed by the Condems

i think it is ridiculous to claim the 'scroungers' stories emanate from the government - if they were that powerful they'd have got an outright majority!
stories like that have been commonplaces of work lunchtime conversation my whole working life - so throughout the previous government.

anyone know what Ed Milliband stands for?

buggered if i know.

[EdgarAllanPond]

and whilst we're on the topic

one wonders why they brought out that expensive tv ad.

[boschy]

The single biggest problem, it seems to me, is short-term-ism.

Every politician probably goes into the job 'to help people' but they all end up putting self/party interest first, because of course having ridden the gravy train who would want to get off it?

If we could do away with political parties, and have a thinktank of the best brains I think we could do an awful lot better in every sector of govt - health, education, social services, economy and so on.

Every time these type of conversations come up and benefits etc are mentioned, everyone talks about the fact that some children grow up with poor role models (non-working, disinterested, failing parents etc etc). If the best brains in Britain, from whatever party/background would actually put their minds to it and ensure that all children were given the best start in life from birth onwards then I think we'd start to see a difference within 10 years.

But that won't happen will it? And I cant see how it could be done democratically anyway.

[autumnlights12]

Socialism is for the young and foolish idealistic
Conservatism is for grownups.

[EdgarAllanPond]

so in my area, the 63% that vote conservative are all old and rich?

no wonder the shops are busy on pension day.

[autumnlights12]

No, I don't mean old and rich. I mean older, realistic, wise.

[theodorakisses]

Just so you know, it isn't actually illegal to be rich. Do you think all those old ladies who work in charity shops and out with collection tins are members of the socialist workers party and paid up members of the sixth form magazine?
It is people that do good and bad, not apparently intelligent educated people in a so called civilised democratic society. I have lived in several dictatorships with more politically realistic people than some of these lefties, honestly. I don't even vote and am not affiliated to any party but I hate the hypocrisy.

[theodorakisses]

Labour sang and danced the night they won the election. For that reason and that reason only, they should all have been imprisoned for gross public indecency.

[DadOnIce]

The Left like to put about the fallacy that the Right is nasty, self-interested, "posh" and uncaring.

The Right like to put about the fallacy that the Left is stupid, naive, woolly and profligate.

I'm 42 and it's been the same throughout my adult life.

Not sure where the slightly-left-of-centre is any more, which is where I used to feel I belonged. The Lib Dems used to aspire to it, but they've kind of blown that one... Greens?

[theodorakisses]

Greens are a bit wimpy though. Why can't there just be a party ran by normal people?

[theroseofwait]

I vote Tory, my dh has been the Tory candidate in our local elections for the last 6 years and my elder son did his first street surgery at 12 weeks.

I do so because I believe in hard work and personal responsibility. Many adults today act like overgrown teenagers and it is a national disgrace. Drinking in ridiculous amounts, sleeping with God knows who without a thought for safe sex, having numerous children to unknown fathers, being unable to communicate or hold down a job and this is what 13 years of the Labour 'it's all right we'll look after you whatever' mentality has brought.

Of course I think those genuinely unable to work should be looked after, it's those who think they can choose not to I have issue with.

And some of you W.I. women in your leafy idyllic villages in middle England who vote Tory. could well apply to me, although I'm more seaside than leafy and earn as much if not more than dh, and I would really rather be thought of as such than some silly, silly woman who has made an utter fool of herself and wasted her life on benefits.

[Viviennemary]

I keep wishing that too theodorakisses. We live in hope. Perhaps a new party will replace the LD because I think they're finished.