Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to think the Camerons are hypocrites?

381 replies

Pixel · 05/04/2015 15:51

I've always had the utmost sympathy for them and what they went through in losing their eldest son, but Sam has made me very cross today. She's going on about how difficult it is caring for a disabled child and saying 'it pushes you to the limits of what you can cope with', yet the other day I saw this article. It says that the BBC has seen leaked documents showing that the Conservatives are planning to cut carer's allowance and disability benefits should they get re-elected.

OP posts:
SuburbanRhonda · 06/04/2015 10:32

I think it's the "grocer's daughter" moniker that leads people to mistakenly think she and her family were working class.

MrsItsNoworNotatAll · 06/04/2015 10:34

Because they think everyone is like them with vast amounts of cash that makes life that bit easier.

The thought of the Tories getting into power for another five years scares me. Especially if they get in outright and it isn't a hung parliament. I think we'll really start to see how nasty they are.

IDS and Gideon being the worst of them.

Margaret Thatcher was horrific but I don't recall her meddling much with the Welfare state and making it nigh on impossible to claim support should you have the misfortune to lose your job or fall seriously ill. Although I might be wrong. It's a long time ago.

SarumGiants · 06/04/2015 10:38

Her husband may be a hypocrite, but I don't think that we can hold Sam responsible for what he does in his job. She's lost a child and that's tough, to say the least.

Samcro · 06/04/2015 10:39

"Dawndonnaagain Sun 05-Apr-15 18:29:15
I think it beyond crass to make people with disabilities homeless.
I think it beyond crass to pay carers £65 per week.
I think it beyond crass to cut services for those with disabilities to the bone.
I think it beyond crass to cut disability benefits.
I could carry on, oh so easily."

what she said
and the other day on the news sam cam was cooing over disabled children at an sn school....ffs how low can you go? use the vulnerable people that are being targeted to pretend you care.

SarumGiants · 06/04/2015 10:42

Because they think everyone is like them with vast amounts of cash that makes life that bit easier.

This is it, isn't it? They haven't got a clue what it is like to only have the money for the bare minimum? But then the average person in the street hasn't either, I was talking to somebody the other day who is a head teacher and so not short of bob or two.

They said they were watching their money carefully as they were retiring in a couple of years but when I said I was watching the money carefully because I don't earn anywhere close to a living wage they asked if I could cut spending at all - on what, food? my children's clothes?

They were saying that the problem with government was that they hadn't got a clue about what it was like for people in the real world but they are equally clueless themselves.

SarumGiants · 06/04/2015 10:42

Because they think everyone is like them with vast amounts of cash that makes life that bit easier.

This is it, isn't it? They haven't got a clue what it is like to only have the money for the bare minimum? But then the average person in the street hasn't either, I was talking to somebody the other day who is a head teacher and so not short of bob or two.

They said they were watching their money carefully as they were retiring in a couple of years but when I said I was watching the money carefully because I don't earn anywhere close to a living wage they asked if I could cut spending at all - on what, food? my children's clothes?

They were saying that the problem with government was that they hadn't got a clue about what it was like for people in the real world but they are equally clueless themselves.

Kampeki · 06/04/2015 10:45

Her husband may be a hypocrite, but I don't think that we can hold Sam responsible for what he does in his job. She's lost a child and that's tough, to say the least.

Absolutely, and as I said earlier, I have profound sympathy for their loss. I don't doubt that it has been incredibly difficult for them.

However, I cannot help but wonder why SamCam has chosen to open up to a national newspaper about this just weeks before a general election. I can think of only one motive....

lottieandmias · 06/04/2015 10:46

YANBU

SarumGiants · 06/04/2015 10:53

However, I cannot help but wonder why SamCam has chosen to open up to a national newspaper about this just weeks before a general election. I can think of only one motive....

We agree.

Plarail123 · 06/04/2015 10:55

Meechimoo these threads always descend into the same bizarre rants. I too was shocked when I first saw it but realised that these people just need help. It's sad. Vilifying a grieving mother is disgusting but not surprising from the types on here.

Samcro · 06/04/2015 11:00

i think people choose to misunderstand these threads.
I can't imagine that there is anyone who does not have the upmost sympathy for their loss. it was a terrible thing.

but considering what this government are doing to vulnerable disabled people. of course people are going to question it.

Kampeki · 06/04/2015 11:02

Vilifying a grieving mother is disgusting but not surprising from the types on here.

Plarail, why do you think Samantha Cameron has chosen to talk about her grief to a national newspaper? Do you think the timing is purely coincidental?

Icimoi · 06/04/2015 11:05

Piara, I'm sure you can see for yourself that this thread is not vilifying a grieving mother. Can you seriously not understand that it is entirely valid (a) to be less than impressed when a mother in the public eye chooses to allow her dead child to be used for political advantage and (b) to point out that she is doing so in circumstances when the husband she is supporting is making life so much worse for other people in the same situation that they were in?

Eliza22 · 06/04/2015 11:05

Yanbu. But then, I have a disabled teenager and have been affected by the Tory cuts. I will not vote for them. As terrible as I'm sure it was for the Camerons to lose their child, the day to day living with disability was (I'm sure) a very different experience for them, than for your average working class parent with all the financial and practical worries piled on top of the illness/disability. Shame on him and his party for not protecting the weak and disabled in our country and those charged to love and care for them.

Northernlurker · 06/04/2015 11:10

I think there's actually a lot of support for SamCam. Just not for her either being put in this position or choosing to put herself in this position.

Kampeki · 06/04/2015 11:14

I actually felt dreadfully sorry for her when dc talked about it at a Tory party conference a few years ago. I felt that it must have been really difficult for her to sit there and try to keep it together.

However, I assume that nobody forced her to do the interview with the DM.

Northernlurker · 06/04/2015 11:14

Incidentally re Thatcher - yes her father was active in the Methodist church, a local councillor and chair of school governors. I only know of one shop and it was in a small market town. Hardly Fortnum and Masons. Yes she went to Oxford but the school was a state school NOT an independant. It was a grammar and she got in like everybody did (myself included) through passing the entrance test at the time. She wasn't working class but she wasn't born in to privilege either. Very few women of her class and situation even got out of Grantham let alone had the professional success she enjoyed.

Welshwabbit · 06/04/2015 11:28

Agree that Thatcher was not working class. She was lower middle class, with aspirational parents. Incidentally, John Major ' s father was a music hall performer who subsequently set up a garden ornaments business. He went to what is now a comprehensive school in Merton. He never went to university. He is probably the most working class PM we've had, at least in recent times.

Not a Tory voter by the way! Smile

zeezeek · 06/04/2015 11:29

No-one is vilifying a grieving mother. What they are doing is pointing out how hypocritical the Camerons are in using their dead son to garner favour with the electorate. If they had kept quiet about it, then this thread wouldn't have been started.

If David Cameron had used his experiences to help other families in similar positions, then maybe we would all think him less of a hypocrite.

It is the way in which this has been done as a cynical and obvious ploy to win votes that is making people angry.

Maybe we all need to remember that before going into politics David Cameron was a PR man.

VivaLeBeaver · 06/04/2015 11:32

Whether she was working class or lower middle class is debatable. Yes her father owned the grocery shop(s) but I believe money was tight. She talked about an austere childhood and lived in a small flat above the shop.

Certainly nothing like the background of Eton going Cameron, Osborne et al.

VivaLeBeaver · 06/04/2015 11:35

I do hate that politicians are so out of touch. Being a policitician is a career in itself which many seem to choose at a very young age. What happened to working in industry, having a career and getting some life experience first?

Then they might have more of an idea of what issues affect the majority of people.

OrlandoWoolf · 06/04/2015 11:41

If David Cameron had used his experiences to help other families in similar positions, then maybe we would all think him less of a hypocrite

This. This is what it's all about. He uses the memory of Ivan to shut down debate on the NHS and disability. No one can tackle him when he brings it up.

Actions speak louder than words. I wonder if he or his PR guys read these threads and realise what "real people" think of him when he does this. Or does he not think these people matter? I suspect the latter.

OrlandoWoolf · 06/04/2015 11:42

viva

I seem to remember something about her saying a politician should know the price of milk and recognise the value of money. I didn't agree with her politics but I do think her background - as a wife and mother helped a lot with understanding real issues especially the cost of living.

zeezeek · 06/04/2015 11:52

VivaLeBeaver - I quite agree. We need a more mature brand of politics with people having proper careers first in a variety of areas then becoming MPs. There is too much Oxbridge PPE degree (or similar), intern, assistant etc etc in all of the parties. Westminster is a bubble and life there is totally different to that of the rest of the country.

zeezeek · 06/04/2015 11:52

VivaLeBeaver - I quite agree. We need a more mature brand of politics with people having proper careers first in a variety of areas then becoming MPs. There is too much Oxbridge PPE degree (or similar), intern, assistant etc etc in all of the parties. Westminster is a bubble and life there is totally different to that of the rest of the country.

Swipe left for the next trending thread