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Survey--David Cameron

53 replies

tinacat · 18/04/2011 22:17

Hi
I'm doing a bit of research on how/why David Cameron appeals to different groups of people and I'm wondering what people on here think of him. Any responses are greatly appreciated.

  1. Do you believe that David Cameron is personally committed to family life?
  2. If so, has this made you warm to him as a politician?
  3. If not, a) did you ever believe this , and
b) why did you change your mind?
OP posts:
nepenthe3 · 19/04/2011 08:30

Just to add, OP, you use the word 'appeal'. He has about as much appeal as the office letch. He has no charm, warmth in his presentation and the fact he is trying to convey this is obvious, and just augments his disingenuity.

Bucharest · 19/04/2011 08:38
  1. Yes. His own. He thinks this makes him EveryDad and we will all be hoodwinked.
  2. If I had to choose between him or his BoyHelper, I'd go for Dave yes.
  3. Not strictly a relevant answer, but I do actually think DC is a committed, fairly nice bloke. (unlike BoyHelper) I'd never vote for him, but I don't think he's evil (unlike BoyHelper)
throckenholt · 19/04/2011 08:47
  1. no - being PM is not compatible with spending much time with your family - so it isn't the most important thing in his life.
  1. no
  1. no - never really believed it.
dotnet · 21/04/2011 18:35

Yes I believe he is personally committed to family life.

No, that hasn't made me warm to him any more than if he'd been a bachelor and not been shown as having a 'family life.'

He doesn't care about other people's families, that's for sure. I'm still wondering about poor Riven who wasn't coping well with the massive demands placed on her family by the needs of her severely disabled daughter, and VERY distressed because she said, pre-election, David Cameron had promised to provide more help for families like hers.

It hasn't happened. Things are getting grimmer for hard-up young families as well, and Toffo couldn't give a tosso.

cece · 21/04/2011 18:43
  1. Yes, he is a father and husband with all that that entails
  1. No, he is still a Tory and will make sure him and his mates are OK and everyone else just has to struggle through. He has no idea what it is like not to be rich and privilidged (sp) and doesn't seem that interested either.
LegoStuckinMyhoover · 21/04/2011 20:45
  1. No

2.N/A

3a. NO

3b. I have never changed my mind.

queenbathsheba · 21/04/2011 22:26
  1. I believe he is committed to HIS family life and believe he doesn't give a monkeys about mine. 2)No, I have always thought he was a loathsome creep 3)N/A
woollyideas · 21/04/2011 22:50
  1. As others say, he's only committed to his own family life and perhaps a few others like his own. As someone else pointed out, though, being PM probably means he's a workaholic, so he's probably not even putting their needs before his ambition...
  1. No. It is irrelevant.
  1. a and b. A double no.
dotnet · 22/04/2011 12:38

OP, it's interesting, the tone of this thread... Mumsnetters aren't all lefties, but the only righties who've written here so far are longfingernails and I think one other, maybe two.

Looks as if this government is really really hated, doesn't it, if most of the righties can't find anything much to say in Toffo's favour?

Toffo is going to use his creep tactics close to the next general election by increasing the state pension and BUYING votes that way. The man has no shame and no sense of decency. Doesn't care about affordable education, doesn't care about the sick, doesn't care about disabled people. Rotten to the core.

Prunnhilda · 22/04/2011 12:40
  1. No reason to believe otherwise.
  2. No. It is commonplace for people to love and enjoy their families and not related to his public life. I abhor him and his public life and don't think his family is any of my business.
Prunnhilda · 22/04/2011 13:10

Oh - have I misinterpreted the first question?
No, I don't think he knows the first thing about lives other than his own. (How many of us do?) I don't think he is committed to family life, or any type of plebeian life in fact. Understanding family life and what the state can do to support it is vital if you want future generations of productive citizens. (If you buy into the idea of the feckless benefit scroungers, look at who was in power during their infancy and childhood.) I think the damage being threatened to esp. mothers and children in the next few years is going to have economic repercussions for the next 20 or 30 years at least.

Niecie · 22/04/2011 13:21
  1. Yes
  2. Not particularly, it isn't relevant

What politician does know about the family life of anybody else? What do any of us understand if they aren't within our close circle? Tony Blair didn't understand, nor do I suspect Gordon Brown. By becoming a politician you move away from anything resembling what most people would call ordinary life.

I am more interested in his economic policies on which it is too early to comment. Sadly, it is only something that can truly be evaluated after the event when it is too late!

aliceliddell · 22/04/2011 13:24

Hmm, seems to be a consensus that DC is a Tory git. It turns out you can't support the NHS and privatise it, you can't protect "vulnerable" disabled people and cut public sector spending, you can't promote gender equality and cut free child care and attack maternity leave laws. Etc, etc, etc. Pretending you can is foolish.

Prunnhilda · 22/04/2011 13:25

He could learn.
Blair and Brown at least headed a government that was trying to give kids a better start in vaguely creative ways. I can't defend them - it's not either/or, Tory/Labour - but there were some good things there.

DarthNiqabi · 22/04/2011 13:28

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Niecie · 22/04/2011 14:10

Prunnhilda, That was really what my last point really - you can say maybe Blair/Brown did some good (not for me they didn't but others might say otherwise) but you can only say that now, after their time has past. What will or won't happen under the Tories is still unknown - who knows how things will pan out?

Maybe they could learn. I didn't see any indication of that with any of them. Who would teach them anyway? None of them listen to the public, especially when they have been in power for 10+ yrs.

I have no political axe to grind. I think the lot of them are out of touch.

Prunnhilda · 22/04/2011 22:57

But the things I am thinking of (Surestart for one) weren't done with their fingers crossed behind their backs for luck, and the hope they'd be well-judged in future: they took evidence and research about how lives are improved and opportunities built upon and they tried to make some policies which would have long-term positive effects on the underprivileged.

It isn't the public who can help: it is the experts in social policy, economic theory etc, the researchers who are writing reports on poverty and what contributes to long-term non-take-up of opportunities. They exist; we can read their work as well.

There's a massive body of research into what improves lives in our society. (It's not all unbiased, of course.) However it is fair to say that this government is not, um, sympathetic. Actively encouraging a polarised society isn't going to make this a good country to be in for many people.

Prunnhilda · 22/04/2011 23:00

Actually there's quite a bit of data to suggest that having an economically polarised society is bad for all members of it - top and bottom - in terms of safety, health, happiness etc (which matter).

PeachyAndTheArghoNauts · 25/04/2011 17:08
  1. Do you believe that David Cameron is personally committed to family life?
Yes, as long as as it keeps people firmly in their places and lets him and his mates run the show
  1. If so, has this made you warm to him as a politician?
You're kidding, right? er no. As a carer labelled 'lazy benefit claimant' by the press, whose random attacks have led to full on verbal attacks on me by distant family in front of my kids I would say I am closer to giving up than ever before. The man's policies ahve destroyed me.
  1. If not, a) did you ever believe this ,
No. and b) why did you change your mind? As above
huddspur · 25/04/2011 21:35

  1. Yes he seems very committed to his wife and children

  2. No not really

  3. I don't particulary care if he's committed to his family as its none of my business

HHLimbo · 26/04/2011 19:22
  1. he's out for himself. He'll only help out his mates and family
  2. he is fake and nasty
  3. its really apparent with the policies he's pursuing.
complimentary · 27/04/2011 21:51

I met him ,liked him, but found him too PC! IMHO being a family man has greatly helped him, also he is the only leader who is a Christian, the other two being atheists and this IMO has helped him also.

ChairOfTheBored · 28/04/2011 07:58

  1. Yes, but only in teh sense he understands it, and given his very narrow experience of life, means, I firmly suspect, that he finds it difficult to see value in other forms of family life outside the very nice upper middle-class, wife baking cakes, everything in its place, kind of way.

  2. No. It's irrelevant. Family life is important to me, but my family. I'd far rather he had experience of life outside politics, running a large organisation or dealing with the complexities of front line delivery of public services. Which, alas, he doesn't.

ExpatAgain · 28/04/2011 08:02
  1. yes
  2. yes, I guess so.
ExpatAgain · 28/04/2011 08:08

but despite liking him as a person, i still wouldn't vote (and haven't voted) for him or his policies. He is an incredibly popular constituency MP and is v warm and down to earth in person (yes, really) so interesting to read how out of touch and shallow he seems via the media