people who voted tory
- Thread starter frogwoman
- Start date
frogwoman
No amount of cajolery...
Bloody hell kabbes chilango
You're right, I am out of touch with the people in this country who would rather those at the bottom suffer so those above them can prosper. I don't understand them, but thankfully there's still millions of us left who do care about them, so we will try our best to look after them through charitable means while this government focuses on the important stuff like reversing the ban on fox hunting and giving tax breaks to the wealthiest in society. It is controversial, and slightly bonkers, to blame for the Labour party for what happened in Rotherham. Very bizarre indeed.
The irony is a lot of the tories shes addressing could be a lot closer the 'them' that 'we' will look after through 'charitable means'!
Ugh! Just ugh
You're right, I am out of touch with the people in this country who would rather those at the bottom suffer so those above them can prosper. I don't understand them, but thankfully there's still millions of us left who do care about them, so we will try our best to look after them through charitable means while this government focuses on the important stuff like reversing the ban on fox hunting and giving tax breaks to the wealthiest in society. It is controversial, and slightly bonkers, to blame for the Labour party for what happened in Rotherham. Very bizarre indeed.
The irony is a lot of the tories shes addressing could be a lot closer the 'them' that 'we' will look after through 'charitable means'!
Ugh! Just ugh
chilango
Hypothetical Wanker
That's not to say it's not an illustration of a very real attitude. It is. Buts it's not limited to Labour and shouldn't carry any more weight than any of the other voices clamouring for attention on the Internet.
DotCommunist
So many particulars. So many questions.
the spirit eof Lady Bountiful lives on
chilango
Hypothetical Wanker
Some of local pro-Labour voices on my Twitter feed congratulating themselves on ensnaring our local Tory MP into "callous" comments regarding the homeless.
I'll link it later.
Impotent moralism and point scoring.
Irrelevant nonsense.
frogwoman
No amount of cajolery...
Oh i know. Its not limited to labour at all!
frogwoman
No amount of cajolery...
Mad innit???
chilango
Hypothetical Wanker
I don't think it is, if its now out in the open, people will make judgements on this guy, and its all ammunition.
ViolentPanda
Hardly getting over it.
Or shelling them, tbf.
ViolentPanda
Hardly getting over it.
Yup. They wanted Keynsianism on the agenda, as well as more modern "dissenting" economists like Krugman, Sen and Blanchflower.
ViolentPanda
Hardly getting over it.
Pfft.
Anyone with any sense knows you get "superior insight" only through listening to the Today programme on Radio 4!
ViolentPanda
Hardly getting over it.
ffsear
Well-Known Member
shifting gears
Well-Known Member
frogwoman
No amount of cajolery...
Heres something im writing about this:
(Its a rough draft, not finished and ive had quite little sleep so will add to/change a lot)
So the election result is in and the Tories have won, with David Cameron back in for a second term. They only have a very small majority on only 10 seats, which is less than that of John Major's majority in 1992. Despite the first-past-the-post electoral system meaning that they won a majority on 37% of the vote, the Tories nonetheless secured 41% of the electorate who voted in England and Wales, or around 11 million people, two million more than Labour. In Scotland, an even bigger shock occurred. The collapse of Scottish Labour and the obliteration of the Liberal Democrats led to the SNP taking almost every seat except for one Labour, one Tory and one Lib Dem MP, a gain of 50 seats. Under Jim Murphy, who has only been leader a few months, Scottish Labour suffered the worst defeat in its history.
In the 48 hours or so following the election the reaction of most of the left, and a great many Tories themselves, was disbelief and horrified amazement. They had only an 8% chance of gaining a majority and the polls were apparently neck and neck apart from a couple of "outliers", which were ignored in favour of the more "likely" option of a hung parliament. One man who had bet £30,000 on an outright Tory victory had to be paid £210,000 by bookies. Now that the shock has subsided serious questions have to be asked why this happened. After all, the last Tory/Lib Dem government "seemed" so unpopular. The reaction of many with leftist and liberal sympathies, particularly in the Labour and Green party, resembled those described in the infamous quote, who believe that the working class has failed the left, rather than the other way round.
Yet this piece will argue that rather than English voters being any more right wing than those in Scotland, this Tory majority is rather than a victory for the right and the "common sense" of the Tories, primarily a defeat for Labour and to a lesser extent other parties on the electoral left. This election was not about the Tories winning but Labour losing. Faced with a choice of two neo-liberal parties, one of which started the ATOS work capability assessments, began the war in Iraq and started a vicious attack on civil liberties, mismanaged the economy and began a series of disastrous privatisations, such as PFI and academy schools, many people voted for what they thought was the "least worst" option. In other words they voted Tory with no illusions.
(Its a rough draft, not finished and ive had quite little sleep so will add to/change a lot)
So the election result is in and the Tories have won, with David Cameron back in for a second term. They only have a very small majority on only 10 seats, which is less than that of John Major's majority in 1992. Despite the first-past-the-post electoral system meaning that they won a majority on 37% of the vote, the Tories nonetheless secured 41% of the electorate who voted in England and Wales, or around 11 million people, two million more than Labour. In Scotland, an even bigger shock occurred. The collapse of Scottish Labour and the obliteration of the Liberal Democrats led to the SNP taking almost every seat except for one Labour, one Tory and one Lib Dem MP, a gain of 50 seats. Under Jim Murphy, who has only been leader a few months, Scottish Labour suffered the worst defeat in its history.
In the 48 hours or so following the election the reaction of most of the left, and a great many Tories themselves, was disbelief and horrified amazement. They had only an 8% chance of gaining a majority and the polls were apparently neck and neck apart from a couple of "outliers", which were ignored in favour of the more "likely" option of a hung parliament. One man who had bet £30,000 on an outright Tory victory had to be paid £210,000 by bookies. Now that the shock has subsided serious questions have to be asked why this happened. After all, the last Tory/Lib Dem government "seemed" so unpopular. The reaction of many with leftist and liberal sympathies, particularly in the Labour and Green party, resembled those described in the infamous quote, who believe that the working class has failed the left, rather than the other way round.
Yet this piece will argue that rather than English voters being any more right wing than those in Scotland, this Tory majority is rather than a victory for the right and the "common sense" of the Tories, primarily a defeat for Labour and to a lesser extent other parties on the electoral left. This election was not about the Tories winning but Labour losing. Faced with a choice of two neo-liberal parties, one of which started the ATOS work capability assessments, began the war in Iraq and started a vicious attack on civil liberties, mismanaged the economy and began a series of disastrous privatisations, such as PFI and academy schools, many people voted for what they thought was the "least worst" option. In other words they voted Tory with no illusions.
Dogsauce
I’ve got Skol but I’m not a Scholar
frogwoman
No amount of cajolery...
Just done a bit more:
Labour are in disarray, much like the Tories in 2001 and 2005. They seem to switch between complaining against the effects of 'Tory cuts' and claiming that they will be tougher on benefits than the Tory party depending what day of the week it is.
Faced with two parties, both of whom share the same set of neoliberal, pro-austerity assumptions, it is little surprise that some people picked the one that seemed to know what it was doing, rather than the one that didn't.
Labour are in disarray, much like the Tories in 2001 and 2005. They seem to switch between complaining against the effects of 'Tory cuts' and claiming that they will be tougher on benefits than the Tory party depending what day of the week it is.
Faced with two parties, both of whom share the same set of neoliberal, pro-austerity assumptions, it is little surprise that some people picked the one that seemed to know what it was doing, rather than the one that didn't.
frogwoman
No amount of cajolery...
There are still 'conservative clubs' round here where people, usually old men, go for drinks, most of them are probably not tories.but the tory party used to be as much a part of community life in some areas as labour in the north etc, and a lot of these people werent raging right wingers. Neoliberalism destroyed the grassroots tory party as much as it did labour.
Dogsauce
I’ve got Skol but I’m not a Scholar
My ex-girlfriend's grandparents joined the conservative club years back because they supposedly had the best sandwiches.
There's one about quarter of a mile from my house, not overtly political, does a lot of folk and jazz nights. They let a community group I'm involved with hold our meetings in one of their committee rooms for free, I think the idea is we're supposed to buy the odd drink, but generally I don't. I've avoided making the customary 'that's a funny place to keep a dartboard' comment about the thatcher portrait behind the bar.
There's one about quarter of a mile from my house, not overtly political, does a lot of folk and jazz nights. They let a community group I'm involved with hold our meetings in one of their committee rooms for free, I think the idea is we're supposed to buy the odd drink, but generally I don't. I've avoided making the customary 'that's a funny place to keep a dartboard' comment about the thatcher portrait behind the bar.
littlebabyjesus
one of Maxwell's demons
I dunno. Nye Bevan's 'spiv' comment applies here, I think. My neighbour growing up was an electrician, and he joined the local con club to drum up business.
Community life for spivs.
frogwoman
No amount of cajolery...
You think that labour clubs have never served such a purpose?
littlebabyjesus
one of Maxwell's demons
I'm sure they have, but I remember him explicitly volunteering the information to my dad that this was why he'd joined, like he needed to justify it.
frogwoman
No amount of cajolery...
Sure. But my point is that at one point the tories were as deeply embedded in certain communities as labour were elsewhere and that neoliberalism has had just an impact on the grassroots of the tories as it has on labour and the liberals (who also have a few clubs and community organisations round here.) The SNP seems to be a very recent reversal of that trend, the overall decline of mass membership parties, which didn't just include labour.
littlebabyjesus
one of Maxwell's demons
Fair enough. To be fair, in the town I grew up in, I don't think there was a labour club. Con club or the rugby club, think those were the options.
I am a bit prejudiced here. Anyone who would join the con club with Thatcher in power, well, let's say I find it hard not to think less of them.
frogwoman
No amount of cajolery...
What about someone who joined the labour club during the iraq war? Not having a dig btw but if we can't learn about who tory voters/supporters actually are then we wont be able to run a bath never mind a fucking revolution.
The tories lost two elections and almost lost a third because they were disunited and constantly banging on about immigration, benefits and europe. They've learned from their mistakes, we need to learn from ours asap.
littlebabyjesus
one of Maxwell's demons
Yeah, I know you're not having a dig. Sometimes I find it hard to be reasonable about certain things. Not saying I'm right.
frogwoman
No amount of cajolery...
So do i mate, so do i ...
littlebabyjesus
one of Maxwell's demons
I also thought my neighbour was a twat. 
Had a nice neighbour the other side, who may also have been a tory for all I know, but that this one was also a tory just confirmed his twathood for me.
Had a nice neighbour the other side, who may also have been a tory for all I know, but that this one was also a tory just confirmed his twathood for me.Electrician = spiv?
Anyway I think I went to a "con" club once, for a pub quiz. Beer was cheap.
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