To be a secret Tory voter and feel embarrassed about it?

[SecretToryVoter]

I’ve just gone to do my vote and had to admit to myself that I’m one of those secret Tory voters and would be embarrassed to admit it to friends / family!

A month ago I was adamant that I would be voting Labour but ended up changing my mind for a number of reasons

1. Keir seems to have a number of grand ideas of what he wants to do but no substance behind how he’s going to do it (where is he going to find an additional 6,500 teachers as just 1 example)
2. Womens rights
3. my Labour candidate has been helicoptered in and doesn’t look good on paper whereas the Tory candidate is a local, well respected councillor
4. Tory policy is closer to my values overall

anyone else had to admit to themselves that they are a Tory at heart for this election?

Because the truth hurts them?

I think if you’re embarrassed, @SecretToryVoter , you needed to think your vote over more carefully. Whichever way one votes, there should be no embarrassment in that choice.

I am not happy about the voting options available to me, but I couldn’t vote for a party I’d be ashamed to support because the only person I’m letting down is myself.

Whether it’s Tory, Labour, LibDem, Green, regional party, fringe issue party or Count Binface, one’s vote should never be something one is ashamed of.

Umm not how it works "Super Majority" is not a thing they have a mandate with a majority of 10 or 110

Because nobody wants to get piled on, regardless of who is telling their truth.

Call it what you want, it’s true. Labour as a party refuse to define a woman and therefore cannot be trusted to protect women’s sex based rights. To call people embarrassing and saying they should be ashamed for not wanting to vote for such a party is throwing us all into Brave New World territory. You don’t want to vote for the Tories because of what you’ve deemed awful politics, that’s absolutely your prerogative. It doesn’t mean they don’t hold value to others and Labour in comparison hold little to no value in terms of voting for them. As I said above, Labour will win because they’re not the Tories, not because they have anything genuine to offer in terms of change.

The people who say Labour's policies are 'bonkers' are the same people who were saying 10 years ago that they couldn't vote Labour because of antisemitism. Even though they don't care about it really.

Excellent @errjql, do you sell tickets for your comedy act or are you more of a one hilarious laughter-making statement a day person?

Rishi Sunak and the Tories have lead the country to ruin. The biggest assault on women's rights in history is happening under his watch. You're right to be ashamed for voting for them.

Same. My heart is Lib Dem, but I live in a Tory majority constituency with a really good Tory MP who will be an outstanding, experienced member of the opposition.

Calm down. What a ridiculous thing to say. She gets to choose. Not you.

where is he going to find an additional 6,500 teachers as just 1 example

This could be easily done. You do realise there is no shortage of qualified teachers if England, there is just not enough of them who are prepared to do the job.

If the government made significant reforms to Ofsted, workload and the curriculum, I think it would be entirely possible to do this quite quickly.

At least Labour recognise there is a lack of people willing to teach, whereas the current government seem more than happy with our kids being taught by TAs.

If you post a comment then expect a reaction and be prepared to defend it or be swayed by other views.

Wow, reading this makes me understand why OP does not want to discuss voting with other people!

The 'looking to the future not the past' is rishi's line.

Why would anyone think the future would be different with the Tories? ERG, Truss et al are still there - do you really think the hard right lunatics would allow rishi to stay after the election?

The tolerance paradox.

We won't have any fucking spaces to worry about if the Tories get anothet 5 years. The country will be decimated beyond recognition and you'll still have to fight for whatever scraps are left with a transwoman because the Tories have done zip, nada, nothing, zero about that either - after 14 years exclusively under their watch. What part of of that don't you understand?

OP, there are many reasons for voting one way or another, but most particularly in our system of parliamentary constituencies, you are voting for your individual MP as well as for a party. If one of the prospective parliamentary candidates seems to you to be a good person who will stand up for their constituents, no shame in voting for them no matter which party they represent.

In the US it changes things to have a "supermajority", but in this country it doesn’t. Either the leading party get an overall majority, preferably with a few to spare in case of illness, and they can then pass whatever bills they like, or they don’t.

Women’s rights issues I care about

1. women having to give birth alone while groups of 6 could hang out drinking and socialising in the pub
2. a workable childcare policy, very telling that the tories announced their plan to be largely phased in after the general election which couldn’t be more proof it was a weak attempt at vote bribery and not something they wanted to ever make workable
3. The huge levels of birth trauma due to a starved nhs

Not true. It's because so many of those voting the opposite way are so ruthlessly judgemental and narrow-minded.

You have nothing to be embarrassed about. The last 14 years obviously aligns with your core values and you'd like to see more of it.

Someone told me the other day that Boris Johnson was the best PM since Churchill. He taught us all a lesson by not sticking to the rules. May showed how tough she was on migrants with Windrush. Braverman wanted to clean the streets by getting rid off tents. Truss taught us a thing or two about sticking to your beliefs! Cameron gave us back our sovereignty.

Ideological austerity has taught resilience and look how we've all pulled together with foodbanks.

Well, you're right to be embarrassed about it. What on earth have they done to actually impress you? Not a lot or you'd not be ashamed of them. You know on some level how cruel and useless they are.

Literally, anyone else...

It's not rational to post a question on a public forum and then complain about the quality of replies.

Are we not talking about the general point, about shy Tories?

People go around saying things like, "Who is still voting Tory? Are there still people around who are that stupid/racist/ignorant/selfish/etc? I don't know anyone who votes Tory."

Well, yes they do. They just don't know anyone who wants to admit it to them and start a pointless fight.