Why have the Tories mismanaged the country so badly? (title edited by MNHQ at request of OP)

[HebburnPokemon]

Genuinely interested in views on this: why have the Conservatives made choices to preside over the virtual demolition of this country? - to the point where they are facing the biggest defeat of their existence. They have not only damaged the country, they have destroyed themselves! This level of self-harm is unheard of.

I'm trying to make sense of it. Even Covid & Ukraine cannot explain the sheer degree of this implosion. This is not your bog-standard "political cycle" of ruling party enjoying a decade of power then inevitably falling out of favour. Lib Dem are on course to become the opposition ffs!

@chaostherapy regardless of who wins the election, the NHS is not sustainable in its current form. No first world country uses it as a model. It is out of step and out of date.

They cleared out anyone with integrity and a brain before the last election because, y'know, Brexit, which I keep hearing that we all voted for.
So that didn't help.

bear in mind that prior to Covid and Ukraine, the Tories had been in power since 2010 so it can't all be blamed on external factors.

People forget that Tory rule didn't start with Johnson, Truss and Sunak.
Tories had ruined quite a lot before that lot even got their hands on the country, e.g. removing NHS targets that kept A&E waiting lists at 4 hours and cancer wait at 2 weeks, Brexit, Austerity that stopped investment in any public services and kept public sector pay low etc.

Cameron (including Cameron and Clegg, plus a bit of May) were pretty destructive on the country's public services and can be blamed for Brexit even happening.

Neo Liberalism amongst other things.

Because their aim is to make top few percent richer at the expense of everyone else. In their eyes, they haven't mismanaged anything- it's all by design.

They win support by quick wins: "lets cut money to public sector look how much money we're saving" ah and a decade on when people are more sick (because of inadequate care/fewer trained healthcare workers) lo and behold we have fewer people able to work due to poor health plus added stress on a weakened healthcare system equating to a fragile economy.

A healthy economy needs healthy people

a healthy economy needs decent wages so people can spend money in local businesses

Cuts really do solve sweet f* all. We desperately need more investment but where that's going to come from who the hell knows.

But southern counties have fared much better than the north. There are practically zero public services left up here. These things were a lifeline to poorer people who depended on them, and now they’re gone. Life here has been virtually demolished for so many people.

Enjoy the utter utopia that Starmer will create. I think some of you might be disappointed. He is a politician after all.

Enjoy the utter utopia that Starmer will create. I think some of you might be disappointed. He is a politician after all.

Noone is expecting utopia. There's little he can do with the damage that has been caused, but another season of the Tories and I dread to think what more damage would happen.

Who mentioned utopia? 🙄

Just some fucking humanity to the most vulnerable in our society would be a start.

Of course we are! It is absolutely obvious that there are people who rely far more on public services in this country than others. I’m not talking about a few potholes I’m talking about families who rely heavily on the state to support them in many basic needs. The wealthy don’t have to worry about any of this. It’s utter nonsense to suggest that our need for public services is equal and you know that 🙄.

Boris Johnson.

Not interested in working, just wanted to be 'King' and have a beano.
Supported Brexit only for his own ends.
Unfortunately Covid meant he was the worst worst person to be in charge at that time.
Tanked the Tory party by insisting candidates were all 'yes men' to his Brexit lines and got rid of decent, longstanding MPs with integrity.
Packed the Cabinet with unbelievably poor calibre of people.
Set a terrible tone at the top in which lying and lack of integrity was perfectly acceptable.
This lead to more people lower down the structure behaving exactly the same way.

All of this meant that the governance was weak and poorly thought out. On top of that Brexit meant there was a loss of European workers and badly managed immigration and migration policies meant the country remains over populated as there is too much demand on understaffed public services.

But mainly the answer is Boris Johnson as the prime mover here.

Who mentioned utopia.

No one, the Tories are running scared and only have hyperbole and lies left.

By having the Brexit referendum. Boris Johnson won and then wrecked the party.

It does seem like their downfall is being stage managed, with a drip feed of gaffes and scandals, followed by a torrent of them. Partygate felt similar.

And I think pledging to beat the virus at all costs was a big mistake. I might have supported an early short lockdown, with the caveat “we cannot beat the virus, we can only lessen the harms”. But because the government first did nothing, then barraging the public with fear porn and pledging to do “whatever it takes”, and so dragging out lockdowns for months on end. This caused far more wreckage than the virus did, and partygate was the icing on Saint Boris’s birthday booby-trapped cake.

@SirQuintusAureliusMaximus

"But mainly the answer is Boris Johnson as the prime mover here."

I don't disagree but I would add Liz Truss as the final cherry on the cake.

Sunak has done his best to salvage the situation but too little too late and too much damage to repair

I agree. Be careful what you vote for.

In answer to the OP question - simpe answer the Tories forgot they were conservative.

@scalt

"But because the government first did nothing, then barraging the public with fear porn and pledging to do “whatever it takes”, and so dragging out lockdowns for months on end. This caused far more wreckage than the virus did"

However let's not forget that the majority of the population was fully behind these measures at the time and anyone pointing out that the measures were causing more damage than the virus was heavily criticised as as an anti vaxxer / Covid denier.

So I hold the public to be in equal blame.

Exactly!! The public attitude didn’t help. We lockdown sceptics watched in horror as everything was being destroyed before our very eyes, while the public begged and pleaded for even more.

However, the government could have used the power of the media to calm things down, and to say “the virus is not as deadly as feared”, and they could have talked about the damage lockdown was causing. They chose not to. They doubled down on the fear porn instead.

Lol. You don’t realise. It cannot get any worse. Our northern town has seen a huge decline over the last 14 years. It’s reminiscent of somewhere in 1970s Bulgaria. The council has lost 100s of millions in funding a year since 2010. So forgive me but anything will be a utopia after this lot leave.

It was deadly though. Did you work in critical care or on the wards ? Or just bake banana cake whilst furloughed ?

Pay levels for MPs affect who applies for the job

Not all do it for pay, look at Rishi. Also, presumably relatively crap pay impacts all parties equally.

Forgotten furlough?

They had no choice other than to do furlough. 🙄 It was a very simple decision.

By the way, I asked MNHQ to edit title to correct the typo

I don’t think this is a genuine question though. You could equally say that about the last Labour government with the financial crisis and war in Iraq.

I’ve never voted Tory but I do think we need to get back the ability to have a proper discussion and debate. This nonsense about the “demolition of the country” is just partisan silliness.

I think the first serious error was the Brexit referendum, which led to the rise of Boris. This then purged the party of all the sensible grown ups and those with a conscience, who all left (more centrist figures like Rory Stewart). All that were left were right wing nuts and frankly those with very little political nous or talent (Braverman, Anderson etc) or the simply power hungry (Gove,Hunt etc). All of these people either a) don’t really care about the country or b) are utterly incompetent. Between them all they have wreaked havoc.

It's a valid question @User2460177 given that we are heading into the 2024 election and not the 2010 one.