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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Is there no way to make this country love the Tories again?

206 replies

User135644 · 15/10/2022 20:16

In 2019 it looked like it was going to be the Tory decade (2020s) and Boris would have at least 10 years to run the country, Tory mania was at its peak. It's astonishing how much 3 years have changed the whole countries unquestioning love of the Conservative Party.

Is it over? Can they win back the hearts of the public? If so, how? Surely Truss would have to go.

AIBU - yes the country we'll doff our caps and tug our forelocks again once we're in the voting booth

AINBO - they're fucked

OP posts:
AutumnalColours · 15/10/2022 22:26

I wish but my dad still thinks that Jeremy corbyn would have been worse si he's going to keep voting Tory 🙈

virginrivieras · 15/10/2022 22:29

Two words… austerity & chumocracy…

Catastrophejane · 15/10/2022 22:30

@Wheredoallthepensgo couldn’t agree more!

@User135644 Make sure you let us know what policy changes result from feedback on mumsnet.

Echobelly · 15/10/2022 22:31

I think YABU in that 'the country' does not unquestioningly love the Tories - it's the the people who vote the most are Tory voters and a lot of people who hate the Tories think they're too smart to vote.

The people who do love them are dying out as well, and the younger people they might count on to 'get more right wing' as they get older, like DH and I, are no longer doing that. We're 'supposed to' get to mid-life and think that we're doing alright for ourselves and expect the same or better for our kids if things stay as they are, therefore we'd better vote Tory. But instead we're recognising that while we may have done OK, it's only going to get harder and worse for our kids on so many levels unless something changes. And the Tories are proferring the same wrong answers to a changed world.

I just wish Labour had the guts to stop trying to be Tory-lite and to break the bullshit narrative about 'Benefit scroungers' and immigrants rather than engaging with it - it's not like they'll win over Daily Mail readers anyhow.

lightisnotwhite · 15/10/2022 22:31

I think they have run out of steam. It’s been a massive 5 years in terms of global issues. If Labour had been in power they would also have needed a breather and a re think on how to best serve the U.K. .

The reason Tory’s get in is their appeal to single issues people don’t find represented in other parties. What’s a “woman”, farming, the countryside, protecting wealth, right to buy for aspirational poor etc etc. It’s able to appeal to diverse range of the population with an optimism that they will provide things sub sections of people want.
Labour sort of assumes everyone is the same and the whole population is anti this that and the other agenda. They are all about reversing, taking away, reducing.

I think Labour will have to get in now. They will have to do something dynamic to stay in for a few terms. It’s going to be tricky for anyone to get the country through the next few years with aplomb.

CockingASnook · 15/10/2022 22:32

A couple of points:
1 Conservative voters are far from the majority in this country. Collectively, Lib Dems, Labour and Green vastly outnumber them. It is only through the quirks of FPTP that Tories win elections.
2 I come from a historically Tory family that has served in the Armed Forces for five generations. None of us, whether 25 or 75, will ever vote Conservative again since 2016. The way that the party rolled over to a bunch of bigoted Little Englander spivs is a source of profound shame and the party has never recovered.

The best thing that can happen now is that the electoral process in Britain changes to a form of proportional representation and the Conservative is rebuilt from the ground up with people like Rory Stewart brought back into the fold. The UKIP / ERG wing of the Tories can stand for election as their own grotesque party.

Ganymedemoon · 15/10/2022 22:32

the whole countries unquestioning love

Hmmm Boris as PM was my idea of hell and a likely catastrophe for the UK back in good old 2019, as did most people I know. So I am not sure where you get the notion that the whole country had unquestioning love for the tories, never have, never will.

However despite Truss absolutely wrecking the entire country, economically, socially and every which way, I am enjoying watching the tories pave the way to their own funeral.

BMW6 · 15/10/2022 22:33

I've voted in GE's for over 40 years OP. I've seen governments chop and change from Labour to Tory and back, long years of Tory under Thatcher, long years of Labour under Blair, another long Tory stint ending next GE.

I think the Conservatives cannot win the next GE as they've now been in power too long again. The Public senses a time for change. Now the dreadful Corbyn and his cronies are out it is safe to vote Labour again.

The next GE is really Labour's open goal. They'd have to do something truly spectacularly dreadful to lose it next time.

Of course, that won't mean the end of the Conservative Party - they'll lick their wounds, have internal battles and regroup, just as they, and the Labour Party, has done time and again.

History repeats itself, endlessly.

BirmaBrite · 15/10/2022 22:37

@lightisnotwhite with regards to farming, I think most of the farming community have come to terms with the fact that this incarnation of the Conservatives are not on their side anymore. Weren't there demonstrations today ?

PrioritiseCalm · 15/10/2022 22:37

The whole country most certainly did NOT love the Tories! 🤬

PrioritiseCalm · 15/10/2022 22:38

TheOtherBoleynGirls · 15/10/2022 20:24

I’ll answer this as someone who grew up in a Tory household, and it probably slightly more to the right of the centre - though I have actually never voted Tory. I have always voted Lib Dem, but in each election I’d generally felt it was a choice between Lib Dem and Tory, Labour never quite spoke to me (though the Centrists that left the party a few years ago would have probably won me over).

What the Tory government have done to this country, particularly over the past 5 years, have left me finally understanding why my Dad, who policed through the Winter of Discontent, feels he might never vote Labour. They have shafted everything and everyone and it will take a very, very long time before I would ever be willing to consider them a “different” enough party to even think about voting for them.

Really interesting point.

PrioritiseCalm · 15/10/2022 22:38

Goodgriefisitginfizzoclock · 15/10/2022 20:26

Liz is that you?

🤣🤣🤣

PrioritiseCalm · 15/10/2022 22:39

HarrietSchulenberg · 15/10/2022 20:36

I have never voted Tory and never, ever will but this lot seem to have introduced a whole new generation to what we knew of that party in the 80s - that they are self-serving and privileged and care for no-one that won't give them advantage over others. We never were "all in this together". Cameron and his cronies were the acceptable face that opened the door to what we've had for the last 5 years.

This.

Walkingtheplank · 15/10/2022 22:39

Twillow · 15/10/2022 21:19

“There’s no money left” ring a bell at all?

People using this against Labour are usually unaware it's a long-standing tradition carried on by chancellors leaving office.

The tradition is to leave a note welcoming your successor, not to laugh that you've spent all the money.

PrioritiseCalm · 15/10/2022 22:40

User3456 · 15/10/2022 20:41

I knew it would be bad when the Tories won the last election, I was devastated. I never in my wildest dreams thought it would be this bad though. Please tell me people have learnt their lesson now.

JFC let's bloody hope so! 🤞

PickAnyName · 15/10/2022 22:42

Blossomtoes · 15/10/2022 20:24

I hope they stay out of power until I’m dead - I reckon I might get another 20 years.

Wishing you a long and happy life!

Walkingtheplank · 15/10/2022 22:42

MotherOfPuffling · 15/10/2022 22:16

Apparently that note was actually left by a member of an earlier, Tory, Govt when they left power (according to SCS pals). Used to discredit Labour but nothing to do with them.

Show quote history

I wonder why Liam Byrne apologised for leaving it then? www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/may/09/liam-byrne-apology-letter-there-is-no-money-labour-general-election

Mammyloveswine · 15/10/2022 22:45

It's been the tories since 2010! They've had their fucking decade and somehow stayed in power despite being an absolute shit show!

BirmaBrite · 15/10/2022 22:47

Lets have a look at the impact on the economy of leaving a note versus a planned fiscal event that has meant an increased cost of Government spending for years/increase in interest rates which effect mortgages/rents/businesses and lets not forget the latest inflation figures, what's the betting they are even higher ?

BirmaBrite · 15/10/2022 22:48

Oh and fubared pensions ! But you know 'a note' !

Mammyloveswine · 15/10/2022 22:48

TheOtherBoleynGirls · 15/10/2022 20:24

I’ll answer this as someone who grew up in a Tory household, and it probably slightly more to the right of the centre - though I have actually never voted Tory. I have always voted Lib Dem, but in each election I’d generally felt it was a choice between Lib Dem and Tory, Labour never quite spoke to me (though the Centrists that left the party a few years ago would have probably won me over).

What the Tory government have done to this country, particularly over the past 5 years, have left me finally understanding why my Dad, who policed through the Winter of Discontent, feels he might never vote Labour. They have shafted everything and everyone and it will take a very, very long time before I would ever be willing to consider them a “different” enough party to even think about voting for them.

Are you taking the piss??! Labour haven't been in government for TWELVE years.. economically they were much stronger and they cut waiting times in the nhs to a record low...

Morceaux · 15/10/2022 22:49

It’s depressing that the note is still cited as some sort of serious political argument, but I guess that’s inevitable in a country where political discourse is widely shaped by partisan tabloids.

Vegay · 15/10/2022 22:55

Hopefully fucking not. I'd assume someone who thought Boris would be PM for 10 years has the mental capacity of a 3 year old though.

OnBoardTheHeartOfGold · 15/10/2022 22:56

They can win the love of the people if they actually invest in the country.
Invest in education, in health (not just the nhs but in preventative care), in leisure, police and employment opportunities.

katmeouws · 15/10/2022 23:03

I would like to see an electoral pact between libs and labour just to be sure they are gone. I would prefer to vote lib dem, but I will vote labour just to be rid of our MP. One of the most cuntiest of all tories.