This is who the Tory Party are, read this if you are even considering giving them your vote.

[Rhubarb]

A few facts about the Conservative Party that you should know if you are being persuaded by their talk of change.

David Cameron was born in London, his father was a stockbroker and his mother the daughter of Sir William Mount. His ancestors from his father?s side hail from bankers and stockbrokers, it?s how they made their fortune. Cameron went to Eton and then Oxford where he was a member of the notorious Bullingdon Club. He has stated publicly that he is a huge fan of Thatcher. Unsurprisingly he voted against the hunting ban, being a hunter himself. He has been criticised by his own party members for being too Etonian and out of touch with reality.

In 1989 Cameron accepted an invite to South Africa paid for by an anti-sanctions lobby. This was whilst Nelson Mandela was still in prison. He was quoted as describing the trip thus: ?it was all terribly relaxed, just a little treat, a perk of the job.?

Cameron?s wife Samantha is the daughter of Sir Reginald Adrian Berkeley Sheffield and the Viscountess Astor. Their combined wealth is estimated at £30m plus.

George Osborne is the eldest son and heir of Sir Peter Osborne and was originally named Gideon. He was educated at Oxford and he too was a member of the Bullingdon Club. He has two children who are privately educated.

He was caught up in the expenses row after he ?flipped? his second home in order to pay less tax, the Lib Dems reckoned he got away with £55,000 by doing this. He also claimed for a mortgage that was paid, chauffeur fares and two copies of a DVD of his own speech on, of all topics, ?value for taxpayers money?. He subsequently paid it back.

He also tried to solicit a £50,000 donation from a Russian multi-billionaire back in 2008.

So there are 3 members of Oxford?s Bullingdon Club in the Tory Party right now, all from the same year. Isn?t that nice for them? A club that was noted for it?s drunken antics, willful destruction of restaurants (run by working class people), bars and windows and it?s arrogance in the face of the law.

Of the Tory Party itself, there are currently 17 Conservative women MPs compared to 95 in the Labour Party.
Of the occupations of MPs, in the 2005 general election there were 35 manual workers in the Labour Party compared to 2 in Conservative. Labour had 32 school teachers, Tories had 6.
In the same election there were 13 non-white Labour MPs and just 2 Conservative MPs.
Of those going to fee-paying schools, in 2005 118 Tory MPs came from fee-paying schools compared to 63 Labour MPs. 43% of Tory MPs were Oxbridge education compared to 16% of Labour.

So whenever anyone tries to tell you that the Conservatives do live in the real world and are all for making ordinary peoples lives better, quote these figures at them.

Me, I might vote Lib Dems.

Yes DC did work for Carlton, but don't think GO has ever had a job outside politics (researcher etc.) apart from a holiday job at Selfridge's.

Mind you, I don't think Ed Balls has ever a job outside politics either.

btw, I was at Oxford early 80s and never even heard of the Bullingdon club. Must've beeen moving in the wrong circles. But I did have a friend there with a Lancashire accent who was once told by an ex-public schoolboy 'I can't believe that someone with an accent like yours is so intelligent.'

Sussex - you were there with me and the Bullingdon Cluby were really quite notorious.

That sounds a horrid thing to say to our friend. Everywhere has rude people. Mind you, DW and me met in Oxford and I quite often had to translate what she said so that other people could understand her - she comes from Newcastle. Being from North Yorkshire I could bridge the North-South divide.

North South divide? Oh please...Where were you in Oxford that people couldn't understand your Newcastle DW, Deepest darkest blackbird leys perhaps?

More likely to understand Newcastle than N Yorks if you ask me! (and I speak as a child of wakefield)

article on the Spectator on this

Rhubarb, after all these years, the truth is out! You are Rod Liddle!

IMoveTheSFNO - OMG! I was born in Wakefield as well.

abd, sorry have to correct you on the corp affairs role.

I did a very similar role for several years at at ftse company. at its most basic, the role is about spin. I personally got moved from that role and sponsored to do an MBA because i showed a wider flair for business, and i wanted to know more about how businesses were really run.

Like him, several of my peers in this career area are either in seats or trying to win seats, it is a very standard route, and they all claim their time in these sorts of roles as evidence that they understand the business world, its a sham to be very honest - and that is across the political spectrum, labour, lib dem, toryk, so i point this out to you without my political hat on.

Its a very well known route to parliament.

More of a PR role, corporate affairs?

well its about protecting and enhancing a company's image, reputation etc. a form of risk management i suppose.

that not to say he wasnt a talented corporate affairs operator, abd, but just that i wouldnt tag an awful lot of "business acumen" on to it.

sory, several posts. memo to self... think before you press the go button..

foxin Rod Liddle's missus is a mumsnetter.

I can assure you however, that I am not his missus!

ABetaDad and others, you have somewhat missed my point. I have no objection to people going to Oxbridge. That was not my entire point.

It's the combination of their backgrounds that puts them out of touch with reality, I believe.

So it's the combination of Eton + Oxford + Bullingdon + SA trip + family of bankers etc etc. That is the point I am making.

And somehow, sorry I forget who, on this thread said that the Labour have long since made a big deal of recruiting more women MPs, which is why they have 95 whilst the Tories have only 18.

Cameron's A-List was a shortlived gimmick.

The Tories have always been about making the rich richer. Always. I fail to find anything in their policies that tell me they've changed their mind and become the party for the poor. Cameron has admitted that he's a huge fan of Thatcher and she certainly didn't have any time for the poor.

Not just the poor, but people like dh and I who are struggling, who both work. I don't think we are poor in the real sense of the word, but I personally I do have reasons to thank Labour, such as the tax credits.

My original point was that they are not in touch with reality nor have they ever been. DC losing his son was a tragedy there is no doubt and it probably has softened him, but it hasn't changed his policies. Under the Tories I would feel non-existent and a damn sight poorer.

And may I please ask Rod Liddle to pay me for doing his research for him.

i think Lord Mandelson quite likes mixing with the rich....

tbh rhubarb, the only labour MP who came through the working class ranks was John Prescott...and he's just a fat northern idiot...

Aha - there you are!

Stop talking such shite! Apparently there were 4 miners in the Labour Party in 2007. I wonder who they were?

John Prescott is a knob, granted. He's the polar opposite of the Tory toffs, equally obnoxious.

i can't stop talking shite...it comes so naturally...should have been an MP

You'd make a fantastic Tory MP!

How can you say that anyone is out of touch with reality? It is really quite rude and condescending to say this. You would not accept it if someone said it of you.

Everyone in in touch with their own reality and yours is not superior to David Cameron's. He really does live in the real world, especially in the world of the givers to society. If you are a taker, you really should appreciate the givers. Don't bite off the hand that feeds you.

If you don't like the giver-taker relationship, then get a job that allows you to be a giver. Then you can criticise.

wicked, do you really see life so simply? givers and takers?

we all give in our own way, we all take in our own way. no one sits on one side or the other. some contribute more, some contribute less, some take more, some take less. Cameron is the same, so are you. so am I.

i dont see how labelling people as givers and takers (people who ought to be pathetically grateful for all those wonderful givers) is any less condescending than saying people are out of touch with reality.

unfortunately it is this sort of attitude - them and us - that continues to worry people about the tory party, that somehow, if we end up on the wrong side of your equation, we must in a life of semi servitude, grateful for any scraps those lucky to be on the other side of the equation see fit to throw us.

I rather liked wicked's post. I thought it was simple for the sake of gaining clarity on what is altogether a very confused thread, with a generally poor grasp of basic economics running through it .

so are you a giver or a taker anna?

what makes dc a giver? what does one have to do to enter this privileged cohort?

HH, some people are very keen to generalise, eg Old Etonions...

I guess it depends on how it supports your own peronal argument.

Merci, Anna

I am a giver and not a taker?

Excuse me?

DC's party are full of givers?

What a load of bullshit!

Giver and taker line of argument sounds a tad feudal to me.

Black and white labeling of people in this way is hugely limiting.

Where does one pigeon hole children, people on incapacity benefit, retired people, people who take time off to look after children and so on?

Is 'taker' just a semi polite word for parasite?

On another subject, the speech that Cameron made the other day where he said that the loss of a child meant that he had reflected on his career and knew that his priority was to serve his country made me shudder. Bad idea.

Hmm, I didn't like that either Beachcomber, and yes I think wicked did mean her post to be patronising. However what she fails to realise is that my dh works f/t and pays his taxes - even when he had a period without work 2 years ago, he didn't claim any benefits.

I lost my job in Aug and am now working p/t for expenses only, gaining experience so that I can hopefully get a better job.

If the Tories come in, then we would lose our tax credits and I would have to give up my training and get any job anywhere just to pay the rent.

So much for bettering yourself under the Tories, we wouldn't get the chance.

But as is so much the case, die-hard Tories do seem to think that working class = scroungers.

I think Rhubarb's point that the parliamentary Tory party is very far from representative of the population is both true and relevant. They are the least representative of the main political parties and that is worrying.

Separation from the ordinary mass of people is a theme through the whole party - even to the point of their much-vaunted 'open' meeting to select a candidate to replace an MP disgraced during the expenses scandal is being held at, er, a golf club. Yeah, really in touch with the ordinary voter.

I know a few jolly nice Old Etonians, doesn't mean a government comprised of them would be a good thing. Osborne might be 'bright' but has shown an astonishing stupidity - bitching about Mandelson without realising people would notice Osborne was on the same free holiday courtesy of a dodgy Russian billionaire, ffs!

"Of the Tory Party itself, there are currently 17 Conservative women MPs compared to 95 in the Labour Party.
Of the occupations of MPs, in the 2005 general election there were 35 manual workers in the Labour Party compared to 2 in Conservative. Labour had 32 school teachers, Tories had 6.
In the same election there were 13 non-white Labour MPs and just 2 Conservative MPs.
Of those going to fee-paying schools, in 2005 118 Tory MPs came from fee-paying schools compared to 63 Labour MPs. 43% of Tory MPs were Oxbridge education compared to 16% of Labour."