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AIBU?

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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:
TondelayoSchwarzkopf · 09/05/2015 19:26

I am sorry to hear about your loved ones Nromanoff. Flowers

The Iraq War crossed party lines. Blair's cabinet didn't get the support of much of his backbench or the labour movement as a whole. But he did get the support of the Tories. With that he had a basis for invasion.

You can criticise the labour government for the war and I do, vociferously, but you cannot do so to support the notion that the Tories were / are different.

twofingerstoGideon · 09/05/2015 19:28

I'd say most Tory voters are HRT payers. If so, they probably pay more VAT, stamp duty etc. etc. etc. They are the ones paying into the pot so people can be the recipients of these benefits.

Jesus wept. You really think most Tory voters are HRT payers?

MurielWoods · 09/05/2015 19:31

I voted Tory, as did DH.

Financially, we are worse off now as a result of their cuts and are expecting to be hit a bit harder over the next 5 years but we still voted for them because on balance we felt that they were the best party for the country.

Not perfect by a long shot however.

I don't believe that the majority of people who voted Conservative are selfish or uncaring or think only of themselves any more than I think that Labour voters are benefit scrounging work shy layabouts.

I must admit however to forming a number of opinions and preconceptions when it comes to UKIP voters.

MrsItsNoworNotatAll · 09/05/2015 19:36

So glad shithotlawyer hasn't ever been my boss.

You Tory voters are not the only ones who work hard. Lots of us do and have to claim tax credits as well.

Believe me I would gladly take on more hours if there were any going. Sadly there isn't. It isn't even worth covering someone else's hours if they are off sick as once they are back you're back to your own hours and only a bit better off that week or month depending how you are paid.

Quiero · 09/05/2015 19:37

I like the fact that the tax I pay gets used to help out more vulnerable people. I give to society in other ways too, not just financially. I like to help people. We're all human at the end of the day and we have a very unfair and unequal society where it is virtually impossible for some people to dig their way out of the situation they're in.

Why do you want more money than you need? I work fucking hard and have nice things as a result but if someone said I could have a bigger car but it meant laying off 200 nurses I'd tell them where to go. Where has people's humanity gone?

ShinyS1 · 09/05/2015 19:42

Cupid - I suppose I'm saying what do we do about people who take the piss? I'm not trying to be inflammatory in any way, it's a genuine question. There are a lot of people taking the piss. I genuinely don't know how I would deal with it, but I personally feel that Labour completely turned a blind eye, and I feel that that was wrong.

You are working to improve your situation, but a lot don't.

grovel · 09/05/2015 19:43

Last year 4.4 million people paid HRT. This year 11.3 million people paid Conservative.

MrsHarveySpecter · 09/05/2015 19:43

Brillo, DH and I are Labour voters and pay a similar amount of tax. We have both worked damn hard, but have had several lucky breaks. I dont believe anyone who earns over £100k can claim they haven't enjoyed a decent slab of luck or alternatively were born into a certain amount of privilege. And this is why we vote Labour. Why should our success, and good fortune, come at the expense of others? I'd prefer to know my huge tax bill was going to be used to fund the NHS, social housing, education etc. even if we don't use most services.

grovel · 09/05/2015 19:44

Sorry, "voted".

TondelayoSchwarzkopf · 09/05/2015 19:45

I just wanted to ask Brillo something - - how are you posting on a website if you've only put into the system and have not taken anything out? Who built your private phone infrastructure? How do you post without using broadband? Are you off grid?

How do you and your family get to your jobs (combined salary of approx £300k) without using roads, rail or air? Seems a bit of a shame never to go on holiday on your fabulous salary.

Do you employ a private security guard for your valuable home?

And do you keep your savings sewn in a mattress rather than in a bank?

Because I pay my taxes towards transport, infrastructure, energy, consumer protection, police and security services and investment into the country to ensure it is a good place to work and live. Those are the benefits I take out.

Do people really think they only put INTO the taxpayer pot and never take out?

ouryve · 09/05/2015 19:46

I would just like to remind all those Labour voters who care so much about education that they voted in - THREE TIMES - a party that brought in tuition fees.

We didn't all necessarily vote labour in those elections. I didn't because Blair was my MP for some of that time - so I voted green. Other times I've voted libdem, partly because of their support of PR.

MrsItsNoworNotatAll · 09/05/2015 19:47

Shiny I would love to have done what you did. The fact that you now don't want anyone else to sickens me.

It was good for you but Fuck everyone else who might want to. Lovely!

Well don't worry. The lovely Tories you've just voted in will see that nobody does.

SwirlyThingAlert · 09/05/2015 19:47

Conservatives won. Labour drastically lost. Get over it.

TondelayoSchwarzkopf · 09/05/2015 19:47

Oh yes and food. Of you eat food the taxpayer will have paid towards it somewhere down the line.

MrsHarveySpecter · 09/05/2015 19:48

On the point that some people don't work to improve their lot and live off the state, that will always be true, but why on earth should those who are genuinely suffering be punished as a result? Human nature is such that there will always be people who are lazy or cheat the system but in cutting core services we are punishing honest, hard working people or those who can't get a break for a myriad of reasons and those people are the majority not the 'scroungers'.

Quiero · 09/05/2015 19:50

There will always be people who take the piss, people who choose not to work etc but a one size fits all sanctioning policy will never work. Worklessness is a complex matter - it's not as simple as if you stop their benefits they will be forced to work. More than likely they would turn to crime and cost society more. Also if you are going to sanction vulnerable people then you need a strong public sector to support and help to get people ready for work. Not profit making companies.

Wait until Universal Credit gets rolled out fully and see the results. People will die, children will go hungry and women in abusive relationships - well god help them Sad

MrsHarveySpecter · 09/05/2015 19:52

Get over it

This is not about being bitter it is about the fact the welfare state is about to be torn to shreds and many people are rightly concerned, if not terrified.

BettyCatKitten · 09/05/2015 19:55

Anyone else wondering if Tory HQ have appointed posters to tread MN threads?

fanjoforthemammaries7850 · 09/05/2015 19:56

What Mrs Harvey said

NRomanoff · 09/05/2015 19:57

You can criticise the labour government for the war and I do, vociferously, but you cannot do so to support the notion that the Tories were / are different.

Thank you Tonde. I am certainly not saying they are different. In fact that's been my point all along. Labour and Conservative are very similar. People are throwing around about how conservatives have blood on their hands and in frustrates me that people think Labour are innocent. I posted a fairly long post on this thread explaining, why in this election I felt Tory was where I had to vote and I hope not to in the future.

The Iraq war is one small part of it and it did damaged my trust in the party. It hurts, what they did still hurts. Ed and Ed did not do enough to win my trust back. Especially since Mr Balls was my MP I hoped they would, during this last 5 years but they didn't. When Tony Blair started being rolled out to support Ed Miliband it made me feel physically sick. I think Labour need to cut ties with and thoroughly condemn him.

I don't blame all Labour MPs at all, but the party as a whole still involves him. If I had my way he would be on trial.

My point is not everyone who voted tory because they hate the poor and disabled, its much more complex for some of us.

ShinyS1 · 09/05/2015 19:58

wdyfoyc - we simply don't know how many are taking the mick do we? All I can base my opinions on is what I know personally. I believe that Labour turn a blind eye to people doing this, actually I know that Labour have turned a blind eye. I am not frothing about 'benefit scroungers', I know perfectly well that plenty of people, like you, are deserving of benefits. I disagree with selling off HA properties, I lived in HA myself for 10+ years.

I also have MH issues, and have had for a long time. Like you, you wouldn't know, unless I was having a crisis at the time.

I know a fair bit about the lives of the mickey takers I knew, because we were fairly familiar with each other.

TheFairyCaravan · 09/05/2015 19:58

Business owners, and employers and the general public are going to be bloody fuming when Dave rushes through the VAT and NI rise before the Summer break! So much for "more money in your pocket", but you did vote for it!

Going back to the subject of war, if it had have been down to Dave we'd be at war with Syria right now. Ed Milliband stopped that, which is just as well because we have cut defence spending from 10% of GDP in 2010 to 2% and that's going to get lower. DS1 is in the army he's just bought his own boots at £150 (a lot of money to a low rank) because there is a six month wait for them!

BettyCatKitten · 09/05/2015 19:59

Fairy that's bloody shocking!

grovel · 09/05/2015 20:02

MrsHarveySpecter, I appreciate your sentiment but am uncomfortable at how you expressed it. You did not reach your financial stability "at the expense of others" unless you knowingly exploited others. The question is how we choose to share our good fortune with others who have not had our opportunities/luck/skills etc.