Long-standing Conservative voters thread

[Katypp]

Any one else who has - up to this point at least - been a Tory voter?
I have voted Conservative at every national election (I am late 50s). This one is probably the most likely to change. Purely because I think new blood would be a good idea. I live in a very Labour area and have never shared my colours with anyone from being in my early 20s.
Given the fact that the Tories usually win, I suspect there are a lot like me.
I know it's a big ask, but I hope thar this might be a sensible thread for other natural Tory voters to discuss the election and not be called names and shouted down like we are on every other thread.
If you are a Labour voter, please don't hijack the thread and tell us how wrong we are. There is free speech in the UK and we are just as entitled to hold our opinion as you are to hold yours.

I was with a Jewish group at one pro palestine protest, we aren't all ' Muslims'. Many people in the group have Israeli family incluidng me. I wouldn't ordinarily have marched but during my passover meal, i felt really bad because i was eating kosher for passover milka chocolate brought from israel by my sister in law (who is relying on benefits in Israel btw so hardly wealthy but can afford to buy imported german chocolate at three or four times its usual price as is customary for kosher for passover goods) and gazans are starving. This isn't just a left wing view, many tories i know think that Israel has gone too far. Self defence is justified, bombing aid workers and refugee camps is a step too far and if you encourage the israeli government by not protesting, they will go even further.

My parent, my paretents in-laws, both came to England in the early and mid 60's - they were factory workers and lived in their own properties having lived in private rented when they first arrived. Like most Asain of the time, the vast majority were die-hard labour voters.

By the time me and my siblings were in our teens, our parents noted that Labour hit hard those deemed as "working class", hit hard those that had aspirations

I've only voted Tory as have my siblings, and now all of our families and reativles. This is because one of us live in rented property, most have savings in excess of 100k as far as I know inc our kids and most have at least one BTL in order to ensure we do not have to depend on the state benefits and leave the benefits for those that really need them

The rawanda plan really ticked me off - Sunak came out twice I think in front of live broadcast at 6pm outside number 10 promising he will see people on planes to Rawanda. Sunak also failed to increase the tax allowance.

Worst of all, and I blame Tory members not MP's for a change, allowing the dangerous clown into number 10 as anyone could see the woman was a walking time bomb. Her actions of her holding office for a couple of weeks has resulted in massive financial problems for millions of home owners and even more millions via hyper inflation

It was the BS that Sunak was spouting re Rawanda and now the GE has made me promise, not to vote for Tories again

Sadly, Labour will f up people like us, ie retired at just over 50 and a couple of BTL's - every penny we have has had its taxes paid and we, ie me and my OH have worked hard to earn and mange our money prudently - I know that Labour will F us up but I wont be voting Tory or Labour but looking to see if we get a decent independnet

The Conservatives have moved left in your opinion? What in earth would you consider left wing about the current Tory party?!?! Flabbergasted.

the tory policies are aimed at forcing amateur landlords out of business so BTL would solely be within the remit of big companies. see removal of mortgage interest. It only makes sense now if you have 6 to 7 BTLs to spread the risk. They want higher income taxpayers to invest in pensions rather than bricks and mortar hence why they also wanted to force pension funds to invest in British businesses- this would ensure more money goes towards building companies than properties that are already built. In addition the tory vote depends on homeowners as the boomers would die one day. tbh heavily leveraged homeowners (mortgagors) are barely more likely to vote tory than renters these days so it benefits the tories if house prices go down in real terms (no one in negative equity) and there is more supply cos landlords are selling up and not because there is building on the green belt (would not alienate their elderly rural voters). I bought my flat from an ex landlord, would probably not have managed it if landlords were not selling up en masse (my postcode had the lowest rental yields in London in 2019).

the current labour party is similar to new labour and if you recall, house prices went up the most under Blair. So i am not convinced labour would be significantly worst for BTL landlords as there is crossparty consensus that amateur landlords need to be gotten rid of. The tories believe BTLs should be owned by rich people or companies or build to rent companies (john lewis etc) and labour believe that more people should own their home but they don't necessarily feel build to rent companies are more superior to amateur landlords so in a sense, amateur landlords are politically homeless so they should look at other issues.

I would suggest looking from their kids' perspectives as that is a more long term perspective.

Just came on to say thanks for this thread. I have never voted Tory and think it highly unlikely I ever would, but it is vital that we all read and understand the views of people we disagree with.

I'm a natural small c conservative too and I've voted Conservative in all but one GE. Like most of the others on this thread, I think the Conservatives have lost their way, as any party generally does when it's been in power too long. All the chopping and changing of leaders - Cameron, May, Johnson, Truss, Sunak - and all the knee-jerk reaction politics has made me weary. I didn't want Brexit, it has been the utter disaster that was forecast by many Tory politicians, and I'm dismayed by the awful deal we eventually signed. I feel gutted that my kids won't have the same opportunities to live and work in Europe that my generation did and which I was able to take advantage of. I was also sickened by the 'do as we say, not as we do' attitude of the government under the awful populist Johnson and as for Truss's month in power - dear god - what a disaster that was!

My current MP, who is a Lib Dem, is very good and a darn sight better than the awful Tory we had before her, who didn't even live in this area and who voted for Brexit in parliament when the area she represented voted 62% to remain in Europe. She was also never seen in her constituency and completely unaccountable to us, while the Lib Dem sends out a weekly email telling us all what she's done for us this week and she is present at every big local event. She is bound to get in again, with or without my vote, but she might get it this time, not because of what she or her party believes, but because she's a hard-working, visible and effective MP for this area and ultimately, that's what matters to me.

@schloss I think when people say the Torys have moved more to the left that really isn't the case- what they haven't done though is been supportive of business, the small businesses , the self employed - in fact on business , apart from
letting huge corporate business carry on like the wild west- they have been utterly useless- and that really wasnt the old Tory idea. ideology wise though they have been emulating the old ukip - and getting rid of any old school one nation conservatives- so definitely not a move to the left- i also personally think they have handled benefits poorly- far too tough when its really needed but actually by the way they calculate encouraging doing as little as possible in many other cases.

@ladybirdsanchez same here- very good Lib Dem MP - at a local level I find them good - and I've had several

@Katypp but you are fine with Tory and Reform voters and MPs hurling abuse at those who are left of centre or even as in my case a complete centreist. ? Insults really do cut both ways -.on Twitter I've been called a lefty, snowflake, commie, have strong views about Brexit as have a business that has import elements and lots of export, whereas the Doreen's and Brian's hurling insults at me (or even someone like Deborah Meaden) are now suddenly experts , whilst working part time at Tesco.

I'm a Labour voter, basically, but would like to say one thing to the Tory voters who feel that their party has been hijacked by the Braverman / Rees-Mogg wing: remember, Labour went through this less than a decade ago. The activists elected an ageing protest politician as leader and revered him as a modern-day saint, while the country cringed at the thought of him and his mates getting anywhere near the levers of power.

Look at Labour now - have gone totally the other way and have elected Sir Boring Sensible who is going to win the election by a distance. There is a natural balance in UK politics and this moment will pass.

@stuckdownahole exactly. It’s a predictable cycle for both parties - in power too long, big loss, fall apart, rebuild, get re-elected.

The only question is how long to rebuild? Unless Labour do something catastrophic I can’t see the Conservatives pulling their shit together for at least 2 terms (big swing to the right after 2024 election, lose the 2029 election on the basis no one wants a heavily right-wing party, regroup and move back to the centre ready for 2033).

@CaveMum I think that's exactly what will happen. They are having their Corbyn moment- whilst not getting that the vast majority are somewhat in the middle. It never reflects that because we don't have PR.

the people swinging labour now are not particularly left wing, they are just fed up of the many problems that the country has, which financial stability can't necessarily insulate you from. Things like nhs waiting list, rising mortgages, falling real wages are experienced by large swathes of the electorate including people you would expect to be better off

I met up with a couple of friends over the weekend, we are in our early 30s, all homeowners in London, graduated from RG universities/cambridge and none are that happy with our current financial status. My lawyer friend who worked for years to qualify is unhappy that it is hard to meet his billing targets. It is probably not that easy to get clients as a small firm solicitor plus the structure of the fees mean that he only gets paid when the case is settled which is far longer with the court delays and therefore can't secure a payrise. He still has to repay his parents who bought his home for him (it cost 400k so its a lot of money to repay on his own, he is paying a few hundred quid a month for now).

My other lawyer friend who graduated from cambridge law is also unhappy as she is repaying a large mortgage on her own after breaking up with her boyfriend (albeit on a small house in zone 6 east london, probably not the kind of place most lawyers would have livedi n the past). plus i don't think her salary is that high as she was paid 20k in her first job out of university.

DH is an avp in a bank and he wants to get out of his current role but roles are thin on the ground due to the economy/brexit, our mortgage on our z3 2 bed flat is increasing by £250 but we are married and have always pooled our finances so easier to manage. We usually go private but our company insurance doesn't cover fertility checks so we are going NHS for fertility checks and lets just say our experience is quite dismal so far.

We would have been natural tory voters in the past (homeowners/higher rate taxpayers/had some sort of help from our parents) but none of us planning on voting tory in the next election. We all worked hard and tried really hard at school. We don't even have kids so arguably we should be really comfortably off (and to a certain extent we are, but bearing in mind we are probably the top 10% of our generation). If this is what top 10% looks like , it is quite dismal. What about the 90%?

My friends are not super right wing but i can see if labour doesn't sort out the problems, i foresee a swing to the far right cos i don't think people have much more tolerance for the current situation.

How have tories been hijacked by braverman/Rees mogg - neither of them are in the cabinet, immigration, public debt and tax is at record levels that's why people say tories have gone left. My main problem isn't about whether they're left or right it's that they're incompetent. Fiddling while Rome burns re national service.

@Northernnature you’re correct that the right of the party shouldn’t hold so much sway. It all started under Cameron when he allowed the Brexit referendum to appease them and now they feel emboldened and like to throw their weight around.

Rishi really should have come down hard on them when he became PM and made it clear they were not calling the shots. I don’t for a minute think he agrees with them but he fell into the trap of trying to make everyone happy and ultimately pleasing no one.

Rayner.

Keir

I am sorry but I have to disagree with you there. Yes. There is some name-calling both ways, but there is an element (not all) of Labour supporters who are utterly vile, to use a MN word. Hence why I have started this thread, to debate sensibly without being called a c**t, twat, Nazi or any of the other names that have come my way recently. I absolutely will not discuss anything with someone who thinks they are so right they can use such language with impunity. It is a disgrace and I have no idea why anyone would think the way to convert anyone is by insulting them.

Been debating this on another thread - I think this is caused by having FPTP instead of PR. Parties have to be a broad church but are also vulnerable to hijack.

I am a Labour voter but agree Rishi is an intelligent and thoughtful leader - probably just a bit late to save things for the Conservatives. This happens to all parties for various reasons - John Smith was a Labour example IMHO.

@CaveMum I didn't say right hold too much sway I said they don't - in which way do they? I said my main problem is they're incompetent, apart from a few like Badenoch who the membership wanted to be leader but the wet mps stopped her going to the final two and instead put forward truss and sunak - both useless.

Braverman was Home Secretary! And a very unpopular one, too.

Rees-Mogg is very vocal, and very disparaging of people on benefits and immigrants. He's regarded as a very unpleasant right-winger, who famously falls asleep during debates.

His behaviour during the pandemic was outrageous and showed he had no empathy. For anyone.
His views on woman are Stone Age.

13 or whatever years in power will end regardless - there is just a shelf life to these things. But (although it will make little difference) I would like to vote for someone but can’t quite bring myself to vote Tory. They are losing the plot - it’s like they really really want to alienate as many of supporters as possible.

NS is a bin fire - they are relatively rational about gender stuff then proffer a policy to alarm most mothers. And it can’t possibly function. Who will be supervising these volunteers and organising placements? Hard enough to get a work experience placement or volunteering situation for DofE. What employer will want to give part time (or full time rota work) to a young person who will swan off one weekend a month? And what do we offer our young people in return for this nonsense? Poor schools, expensive university (at risk of bankruptcy mid-course), stymied ability to travel and work abroad, expensive rents and pie-in-the-sky house prices. Where is the social contract? Where is the natural reward for working hard and doing your bit for your community?

Labour will resolve nothing, LibDems and Greens have lost the plot. Reform are the nutters too nutty for the far right of Tories. Will keep my party membership in the hope of a sanity option in the next party leadership vote, but probably voting SDP in the election.

I lean right and will be voting Tory. My barometer this time is that I'm more fearful of the far left of the Labour party than the far right of the Conservative party.

I agree with you that the level of insult on political threads is appalling. So is the level of misinformation and provocation and, I’m sorry but that tends to come from Tory supporters. I’m glad you started this thread because this, on the whole, is the level of debate I like to see.

Incidentally, I have no wish or hope of converting anyone but it annoys me intensely to see lies which could influence posters who aren’t particularly politically aware and I’ll always correct them where I see them.

Re BTL - I diagree re Labour - if and when they see votes, they will go for that group of people
Otherwise, sensible and factual post