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AIBU?

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See all MNHQ comments on this thread

Original poster

I voted Conservative, and am happy to admit it - why don't other Tory voters feel the same?

281 replies

MillyMolly99 · 09/05/2015 15:05

I voted Conservative, and am delighted with the election result. However no one else seems to admit to being a Tory voter, but there are clearly lots of us around. I told someone at work about my voting preferences - she looked at me as if I'd just killed a puppy.

DH commented that being left-wing is a more fashionable view, even if you don't agree with left-wing politics.

I think he has a point. And I get heartily sick of people who brag about being brought up on a council estate, holding it up as a badge of honour, assuming this gives more weight to their opinions than those of us who come from a different sort of background. It's some weird, inverted snobbery thing.

I totally agree with David Cameron's comments about wanting to ensure a good life for those of us who are prepared to work for it. What's so wrong with that????

OP posts:
DancingDinosaur · 09/05/2015 18:20

I can put a figure on what I contribute to society. What are you far left contributing exactly?

A very similar amount to you, as it happens Hmm

TondelayoSchwarzkopf · 09/05/2015 18:22

Apologies NRomanoff, I thought from your post that you knew something about the political background to the Iraq war.

I can see I was mistaken.

Babyroobs · 09/05/2015 18:22

Lots of my colleauges won't work any extra hours because of losing tax credits. There is no incentive to work more hours as they lose tax credits and other benefits. The lone parents won't work more than 16 hours even when their kids are teenagers and one colleauge who's partner is on a low income won't work more than one day a week ( even with one 15yr old child) because if she earnt more they would lose tax credits. They are stuck in the trap of not being any better off for workng any more hours.

NRomanoff · 09/05/2015 18:24

ghosty everyone's personal experiences colour their view. However I rhink calling people the c word for making a decision they are entitled to make is appalling.

I won't apologise for not supporting labour. I don't trust anything they say and fully believe they would do exactly the same as the Tories.

NRomanoff · 09/05/2015 18:27

tonde does that sort of post make you feel good? There are words for people who get a kick out of tying to make others feel small. Non complimentary.

Figmentofmyimagination · 09/05/2015 18:31

Brillo you sound like Ayn Rand, back from the dead! Have you read Atlas Shrugged? It's you....(although not necessarily in a good way).

ShinyS1 · 09/05/2015 18:32

I voted Tory. I was a single mum on income support when Labour was in power, and they were very generous. I was certainly fit to work, but preferred to be paid not to. I know plenty of other people who did exactly the same.

Now I do work, and I think that being supported to the degree I was is completely wrong. It was only when I met my working DH and lost all my benefits that I decided to finally get off my backside and contribute. Please note that I am certainly NOT saying that ALL people on benefits are the same, this is my own personal experience.

I also want an in/out referendum. No other party offers that other than UKIP.

I think that this election has produced a lot of animosity, with a lot of Labour and SNP supporters being openly hostile. Why would I want to face down that kind of criticism in RL? I just nod and smile and keep my choices between me and that ballot slip. Like a lot of people by the looks of it.

TondelayoSchwarzkopf · 09/05/2015 18:34

Nothing about the Iraq war makes me feel good, I strongly opposed it and think it is one of the worst things to happen this century. Blair is a war criminal.

That's why it makes me vomit when I see people use it as a cheap political point. Hundreds of thousands of people died and continue to die.

If you are using Iraq to make all of labour look and then forget it. The antiwar movement was led by labour politicians. The Tories voted to support the war and did nothing to stop it. Try not to rewrite history.

PeachyPants · 09/05/2015 18:35

BrillBrilloPads how can most Tory voters be higher rate tax payers, only around 5 million people pay higher rate income tax?

TondelayoSchwarzkopf · 09/05/2015 18:35

Labour look bad, that should say

TondelayoSchwarzkopf · 09/05/2015 18:37

Me and DH are higher rate tax payers. And we both voted Labour.

Many of the labour signs in my area were in £1m + houses.

But yeah most Tory voters being higher rate tax payers - that doesn't stack up.

NRomanoff · 09/05/2015 18:46

tonde well done your I lost people I loved in that war. I am not using it as a cheap political point. I am serious. Labour were in charge, they sent them with shit equipment and unprepared. I lost trust in labour and they are yet to earn it back. The 2 Eds did not inspire me to trust them again.

How is a cheap political point? People here are talking about future deaths that might happen, 1000s died when labour were in power. I am sick of hearing how life under labour was so wonderful, when for a lot of us it was.

And while Tony blair is still relied on by the Labour party and wheeled out every so often it will take me a long time to trust them again. Tony Blair is a war criminal, but labour still use him to their advantage.

wdyfoyc · 09/05/2015 18:46

Shiny So it was right for you to make that choice and get paid for by the tax payer but not anyone else. I see.

FuzzyWizard · 09/05/2015 18:46

Brillo- you may feel like you take nothing out but you will be benefitting from some public services. Life is also very difficult to predict. My uncle was in his 30s when he got a sore throat, over the course of less than a week he got more and more tired and run down. His wife took him to hospital and within 24 hours he'd lapsed into a coma. He suffered a brain injury as a result of his illness, spent almost a year in hospital and has needed daily care provided ever since as well as a cocktail of expensive drugs... He could live for another 30 or so years and in that time will never be able to work or contribute again. Even your contribution to the public finances would quickly pale into insignificance were you to suffer a similar illness. That could be any one of us... There but for the grace of God and all that.

wdyfoyc · 09/05/2015 18:47

Shiny So it was right for you to make that choice and get paid for by the tax payer but not anyone else. I see.

NRomanoff · 09/05/2015 18:48

I hate posting on my kindle fire. It's crap apologies if that makes no sense.

ShinyS1 · 09/05/2015 18:51

No wdyfoc, it wasn't right for me to make that choice. As I was on income support I wasn't asked if I was fit to work, I was simply given support. I believe that that kind of approach helps no-one.

wdyfoyc · 09/05/2015 19:06

Shiny The fact you weren't asked if you were fit for work did not mean you could not get a job. Instead you actively chose not to. Labour were generous so you chose not to work. You chose.

Many people are actually unfit to work due to physical/mental issues are now being made to apply for jobs they will never ever get. Never mind though. It was good in you day. It helped you.

fanjoforthemammaries7850 · 09/05/2015 19:08

Yes I vote Labour because it is fashionable of course. Or maybe not.

ShinyS1 · 09/05/2015 19:13

wdyfoyc I know that many people are actually unfit to work. I also know that many people take the mick. What is the answer?

Lavenderice · 09/05/2015 19:15

I apologise for the language, but not the sentiment.

BigBirthdayGloom · 09/05/2015 19:18

Any of us is only an accident or illness away, or even poor advice or financial disaster away from not only needing acute medical care, which currently is unavailable privately, or permanent or temporary support for. Public services. Council services like trading standards will quite possibly become unrecognisable. To assume that because you'll cover your costs now that you always will, or that everything you need will be available privately now or in a few years time is rather over confident. And although I wouldn't vote entirely selflessly, I would like to sleep well at night knowing that those who are not standing on the shoulders of the giants of genetic, educational, family or financial advantage are given a leg up rather than being shamed and deprived.

CupidStuntSurvivor · 09/05/2015 19:24

Shiney the attitude that you had towards the system ("I'm not being asked if I'm fit for work so won't bother trying to find a job") is the problem with your particular situation. The job centre have me in regularly, despite me not being under any pressure to find a job under current rules. They know I'm in education. Regardless of me not being under any obligation to work right now, I'm of the attitude that I should be doing something to improve my situation and stop being a burden. I live in a deprived area and though there are people who take the piss (like you did), most people here are like me and trying to dig themselves out of a God awful hole.

BettyCatKitten · 09/05/2015 19:24

wydfoyc
I have no intention of buying my HA property, I posted after that comment up thread. I was stating that is an option for HA tenants, and at massive discounts. Not a good thing IMOSmile

wdyfoyc · 09/05/2015 19:24

Shiny If as many people took the mick as is claimed, the benefit bill would be virtually non-existent. There are shop a scrounger campaigns all the time, The Sun even started one, until it's readers complained and they stopped it.

I have long-standing mental health issues, I have not worked for quite a few years. I get around £9,000 a year in ESA and rent from the government. I don't get free prescriptions or dental care. Even if I could get a job, employers aren't jumping at the chance to hire MH patients, it's unlikely it would pay my rent and council tax. I live in a housing association flat, soon to become a rarity because the man you voted for plans to sell them off, I'm the person so many of you Tories despise.

If you met me you would wonder why I was on benefits as I am able bodied and can hold a decent conversation, but that is not the whole story.

How much of the lives of these micky takers do actually know?