My dh and I were discussing the tory party. He really dislikes what they stand for.aibu to.ask .. .

[Chewchewaboogiw]

Ask if you.vote tory and would be planning to continue to do so.. why and what do you like about the party?in the circles we mix in no one votes tory that we know of so cant ask in real life.. but there must be many who vote this way.

@Andouillette

I am a Tory and have seen nothing in my (quite long) life to make me change my mind. The PM was not my choice as party leader but that doesn't bother me much as all party leaders have a shelf life. I voted remain - mainly due to my loathing of the Farage creature but I wouldn't again due to what I have seen since. Since 2010 I have very much enjoyed watching tax tresholds rise, particularly at the lower end of the pay scale as this seems to be a good and balanced way to offer some help to the lower paid. I was delighted when the NI threshold was raised recently to match. I remember with horror the nationalised industries and how grossly inefficient they were, in fact I remember the 70s with horror generally. Any yes, I do know that for a chunk of the 70s we had a Tory government, a weak and ineffectual one led by a tosser. I think inheritance tax is ridiculous though I accept it has to exist, I would streamline it. 10% on all estates over £50,000, no exceptions, no loopholes, no avoidance. That would probably bring in a lot more money. The current system penalises people with parents/other relatives who refuse to do anything about it. I am heartily sick of being told I am de facto evil for voting Tory. I wish harm to nobody and would love to see more done for those struggling at the lower end of income levels but I am also aware that has to be paid for somehow and I genuinely believe that sensible choice is more likely to come from Tories than not. I am sick of being lectured by a catbum faced urban elite that has no idea of anything outside their rarified bubble and thinks that they hold the moral highground. They do not. Patronising wankers on the whole. Politicians lie, they always have done and they always will, it is up to us, the voters, to work out which flavour of lie is the least awful and vote accordingly.

Yes I agree 100%

*haven't ever

@Andouillette actually as someone who was born and grew up in a midlands mining town and then moved onwards and upwards it's quite offensive to presume all who don't vote Tory are some kind of weird urban species. I run a business, and am pro business but pro people actually being able to get by in life on modest incomes, You talk about nationalisation as if all our newly privatised industry's were working a real treat-- but they are not! Personally I'm not pro privatisation on anything essential, where there isn't really a choice. I vary votes depending where I've lived between Lib Dem's and labour and Brexit in the form it is is the most damaging thing ever for any business that isn't just a local service industry or tradesmen.

I perceive that a lot of ppl dislike Tories based on who they think Tories are (selfish rich people) not based on what the Tories say they believe in. And visa versa: Tories who dislike Labour because they are convinced that benefit scroungers & champagne socialists = Labour.

I don't think I could ever vote tory, but I can find some right wing political principles quite appealing. Veering towards less not more regulation in most areas of life, smaller deficit spending, encouraging private companies, taxing profit and consumption not jobs.

I perceive that Thatcher did good by breaking up monopolies held by stuck-in-their-ways service providers. That Blair did good by introducing performance targets in public services. That these things also caused harms.

The most fervent Tory supporters I know have very working class identities, strong Brexit supporters, with a personal family history of being deeply skint.

I was a member of the Conservative party from 18 to mid 30's and I've been a member of the Labour Party since Cameron resigned. The main attraction of the Conservative party for me was always the view of "small state" with less interference in people's lives and keen promotion of business. If you look back to the post war years through to the 60's and 70's social mobility seemed much easier, lots of working class people got opportunities they had not had before and don't have now. We had free university education and grants, not loans. I honestly feel now that there is no compassion in the Conservative party, and that younger people in particular are under such financial pressure they cannot buy a house or have children unless they are from a well off background or have a very highly paid job (x 2).

I admire the honesty of people admitting that they vote Conservative because they're well off and want to stay that way, but I don't know if "I want to stay rich at the expense of other people staying poorer" is something I'd admit in public.

Never voted tory but it’s clearly the party for rich people, and to some extent middle classes, who don’t really give a monkeys about the poor.
they are about minimising the interference and size of the state as much as possible. So that those that can, carry on. Those that can’t, well it’s their fault.

I voted Tory for the first time at the last election.

I am still pleased I did

The general pattern is that people become more conservative as they get older and I have definitely followed that pattern. When you realise that unlimited welfare like the left want has many nasty unintended consequences - mainly that it doesn't actually help people long-term and is actually disempowering for a lot of people, you enter a whole new mindset and start to see where they are coming from but also why they are seen as 'nasty' by those who are not in that mindset.

I also value family, traditional values, nationalism, defence etc. more than I did in the heady optimism of youth where I just wanted to go against the grain - e.g. marriage is just a piece of paper (I now recognise it as one of the most important institutions we have - despite being divorced)

Also they have much better meritocracy (not perfect) but they are not consumed by identity politics and more likely to judge everyone based on their performance, not what group they belong to

They accept that people can have differing opinions within the party more than Labour too. The only opposition they got to lockdown was from their own MP's.

Also, they do know what a woman is, which helps

I don't know what most of my friends vote, in fact, I think I can only name one who I would be certain on, and that's because he's vocal politically. I'm not certain that he's a staunch member of that party either, simply in our area he thinks currently they're a better vote.
If people are with him, they often sound far more supportive of that party than they are without him present.

On here there's a very anti-Tory slant. I suspect far more people vote for them than admit on here, but I do find the wide-eyed innocent "please can someone tell me how they can possibly vote Tory" posts look far more like being labour bots than genuine wanting to know.
Surely most people have got to the age they use Mumsnet before they realise that parties have many different issues they stand for and people vote for the one that they think suits them best? Or as my dad used to sing:
"The working class
can kiss my ass
I've got the foreman's job at last..."
ie people will vote for who they think helps them best at that moment. When their circumstances change they will quite happily abandon the party that helped them and vote for another that they think will help them now."

People hear different things-what they want to hear from their favoured party, and what they don't want to hear from the others. But also people have different views on what is important. If you think the most important thing is more tax to give more benefits you may hold your nose at what you disagree with in immigration, schools, or other matters. Likewise if for you, you have strong opinions on use of green space which is the deciding vote for you, even though it isn't a major issue for others, you may vote for the party that agrees more with that, ignoring the other points.

That is why it can be hard to find why a party gets in or doesn't get in.

I think the biggest issue for me at the moment is it's more the party I dislike least. There is no one party that I can genuinely get behind. There's no one in any of the parties who to me is coming across as someone I would like to lead the country, and there is no party for whom I think "yep, on the whole they're on the right track."

I would describe myself as a floating voter. I would love to say that I feel one party aligns with my views. I can't. They've all got things I like, and unfortunately currently, more things I dislike.

I think also people do vote tactically. I don't particularly like it myself-it just feels vindictive and personal rather than anything else. If two parties are neck and neck and you hate one more than you like the third option, your actual preference, then is your actual preference a wasted vote?
I see why people do it.
It does make it difficult for a party to build up. If people are roundly supportive, however that party will never get in, they may find a fair number of people choose to use their vote to make a difference. problem is if a number of people do that, it may still look like that candidate has no chance so it continues, whereas if they'd got a good number of votes the last time then others might start considering them as a valid option.

The whole parties and voting system needs an overhaul. But no party is going to do that to the extent it's needed because the system worked last time for the group in power.

Thank you for all your replies. I will take the time to read it. I think that some people i kmow seem to say they hate the tory party without providing a concept of why in my limited experince and dont seem to say why either about policy or ethos.
Most of the demographic I know who say this are quite middle class. They are sort of liberal and educated mostly. They are certainly not poor economically.

@desiringonlychild2022

@roarfeckingroarr my DH went from free school meals/1 in 4 to a single mum to being a higher rate taxpayer but he did grow up in London and lived at home while at university and at his first few jobs in tech/the city which also enabled him to buy his flat in London without family money. But do you think this can be easily replicated for young people living in areas with no public transport, no good jobs, no RG universities a 20 minute commute away.

Aspiration works for people who might be poor but already have some resources.

My father grew up in extreme poverty in a corner mining town. He was kicked out of school at 15 so no university. But he worked very hard for a long time and did very well. He votes Tory, got me into politics and I do too

@sst1234

This is an interesting point. You always hear the left calling for ‘more support’, ‘higher benefits’ etc. You never hear from the left on creating a bigger economy. It’s the same when it comes to green policies, they will always advocate for people to go without stuff, to live on less than what they have become accustomed to. Never hear from them about engineered solutions to climate change. It’s always about making people poorer and less comfortable to please their socialist aims. Never about inventing or enterprising your way out of a problem. They seem to leave the ‘clever’ science and business parts for those on the centre right. Voters can see this in the main.

The left are happy to make the poor more poor, so long as the rich are less rich

@BuanoKubiamVej

People are more or less likely to vote in a particular direction depending on their philosophical position on the question of "why do some people end up very rich while others remain poor all their lives?"

People who vote Tory aren't necessarily evil as I was led to believe by my mainly socialist family. However, they are likely to believe that anyone who works hard, keeps a lookout for opportunities and isn't trying to sponge off the state will end up wealthy eventually, and the state shouldn't then take away that wealth and give it to the feckless and lazy individuals who couldn't be bothered to do all that.

Whereas people who would never vote Tory tend to believe that life stacks the cards against the poor and disadvantaged, that it's very difficult to escape from the bottom rungs of society no matter how hard you try, and that those with the privilege of having more resources and opportunities need to be compelled to share that good fortune with those who don't.

I think this is an excellent summary.

Like I said in my first post. It’s all relative. The perception (based on sound historical evidence) is that Labour are worse - far worse. Doing a one legged dance in the frying pan is more favourable vs jumping into the res hot fire that is the disastrous Labour Party.

@housemaus

I admire the honesty of people admitting that they vote Conservative because they're well off and want to stay that way, but I don't know if "I want to stay rich at the expense of other people staying poorer" is something I'd admit in public

I don’t think I’m staying rich at the expense of the poor/people staying poorer. I think 45% of our household income goes towards taxes, helping the poor, paying for NHS and state education which we don’t use (except in an emergency etc). I don’t begrudge paying almost half household income in tax, but I don’t think it’s reasonable to expect more than that. I don’t see how that makes people stay poorer?

I don’t vote Tory but don’t like the idea that people who do are somehow evil. Time for tolerance of different opinions imo.

@Giraffesandbottoms well said. I pay more than enough in tax and don't particularly want to pay any more:

@roarfeckingroarr your dad grew up in a different time..my DH is 31 so at least that is more recent. Apart from other things, it was a lot easier to buy your own home. And he votes labour/green because he sees his own career aspirations as separate from politics. The fact that he can buy a home at 29 but most young Londoners can't doesn't make him richer or more successful, it's a symptom of the broken system..when 25% of Britons are in poverty, it's the system not the individual.

You become successful because of your own merit not because you look down on other people less able than yourselves

Hard to vote for Labour when they don't respect women are biologically female though.

Also they have much better meritocracy (not perfect) but they are not consumed by identity politics and more likely to judge everyone based on their performance, not what group they belong to

That would be why there’s such a preponderance of old Etonians as PMs then? And why the Leader of the Opposition was state educated?

Most of the replies will be England centric and will usually not understand there's other reasons to vote Conservative outside of England.

In Scotland, the Constitutional debate is a major and defining issue. Labour under Corbyn, Dugdale, Leonard and Murphy have been incredibly weak on the Union and Unionism. So, many, many Unionists vote Conservative which is why they're now Scotland's second biggest party.

Scottish politics has been successfully Ulsterised by the SNP and there's no room for Labour as SNP have taken the social Democrat position even though they're Tartan Tories. Labour can't win votes in a major way so long as they continue to refuse to advocate for the UK Union.

It really doesn't help Labour that their sister party is the SDLP who are obviously interested in the breakup of the UK.

In short, Labour are not trusted with the Constitutional issues and many across the UK also feel Blair's Labour carried out Constitutional Vandalism with rushing devolution straight through.

There ARE good reasons not to vote Labour and its not all England centric.

@Andouillette you know the 70's was 50 years ago? Things have changed just a little bit since then.

It's funny. DH and I were both brought up in massively leftie households.

When we started going to Church (in relatively affluent area of deprived London Borough) we were staggered that there were so many Tories yet they were the ones holding the homeless shelter/support for asylum seekers etc etc all together.

Really shook my beliefs tbh, from talking to people it turned out many were Tory not cos they didn't care about others, but because they believed it was up to look us after each other, not the State.

A fair few are now politically homeless due to both behaviour of Govt and seeing the lived impact of austerity and Govt policies on the disadvantaged.

Just found it really helpful to understand that not all Tories are bad (and definitely not all lefties are good).

I feel politically homeless. I don't want to vote Tory but don't feel much confidence in Labour. I think certainly last election people didn't feel they could vote for JC and voting Tory was less scary. It was the least bad choice.