Conservatives? What conservatives? The Conservative Party of 2021 is Blairite ideologically, not conservative. If I wanted ruinous NetZero policies and even more state control over civil society needed to impose them, I’d vote for the Green Party. But if I’m going to get those policies even if I vote Tory, then why on earth would I vote Tory?
The educational & media establishment are now utterly dominated by the far left, with the Tories asleep at the wheel the whole time. Woke culture backed by regulation is now rapidly spreading into Big Business, with the Tories equally lackadaisical. And is there a single aspect of civil society not now regulated by the state? If the Conservatives have no interest in conserving civil society, rather than nationalising it, then you people are utterly pointless. If you were a company, you’d be prosecuted under the Trade Descriptions Act for calling yourselves conservatives.
After having only ever voted Tory all my life, the spell was broken in the final Euro elections when I voted BXP. I will not be voting for you people again.
– Perry de Havilland, replying to “Now is a great time to be a Conservative.”
Understandable. I feel the same way about the Republican Party here in the US. Talk one way, vote another. They’re called the GOPe for a reason (e for establishment). They fought President Trump every step of the way. They deserve to be extinct in their current form.
Short and to the point. I agree, although I still vote Tory tactically to oppose the SNP (being in haggis country), I just wish their were a better bunch of bastards to vote for than these bastards.
In recent years I’ve voted UKIP, BRExit and Tory (tactically against the SNP). Can’t say I was particularly enamoured of any of them, they just seemed less bad than the other buggers.
A ringing endorsement of the democratic process…NOT.
I voted for Laurence Fox as first choice in the mayoral elections. I had decided not to bother putting in Shaun Bailey as second choice, but the idea of Bailey losing against Khan by one vote was too much to stomach and ultimately I did; much as I hate the Tories I do have to live in London. It would be nice if the Tories decided not to be useless for once and abolished the office of the mayor. But given that the govt bailed out the Tube with zero strings attached (talk about a missed opportunity) I doubt this will happen.
But I’m done. Will never vote for them again, barring the unlikely event of Steven Baker being made prime minister (after which he hopefully locates a hidden reservoir of testosterone and orders all the current cabinet members lamp-posted, or is that ‘Perried’ and the Sage members burned alive on Question Time).
As did I. But I didn’t put Shaun Bailey as my second choice because I’m done with the Tories at every level. Yes, one could say I wasted my vote because Fox never has the slightest chance of winning, but the Tories simply aren’t worth voting for even on the “lesser evil” basis as in practice, they truly are no better in any of the ways that actually matter.
“If I wanted ruinous NetZero policies and even more state control over civil society needed to impose them, I’d vote for the Green Party. But if I’m going to get those policies even if I vote Tory, then why on earth would I vote Tory?”
The bit that I find baffling is, why do we have this kind of green crap imposed on us at all? People definitely don’t vote for it, the greens remain a fringe party on level with the MRL party and the Lib Dems. Is it another example of our servants insisting that they know better and inflicting this shit on us for our own good?
Stonyground:
It’s the Great Reset. A massive transfer of wealth and power from the many to the few. At one time I might have dismissed this as a conspiracy theory, but when the Davos crowd are quite open about it, why doubt them?
‘why on earth would I vote Tory?’
In that case why in the world even bother to vote?
The most effective way to vote, by far, is with your feet.
There is more reason to hope in the US, because the primaries allow a potential upset of the establishment. You know, as in 2016.
“In that case why in the world even bother to vote?”
If everybody voted for the party that they really wanted, it would take max 2 electoral cycles for a complete realignment of politics. Mind you, no guarantee it would be for the better.
The fact that the first past the post system remains contestable is also important. UKIP managed to pressure Cameron into the EU vote without taking a single seat in Parliament. Brexit Party prevented BRINO.
Lastly, your suggestion of not voting is better than voting for the lesser evil. If a party is elected by 10% of the vote they can hardly claim a popular mandate.
I’d like to qualify that.
There is more reason to hope for uprooting the US “Republican” establishment than the UK “Conservative” establishment.
OTOH there is more reason to hope that future UK elections will be free and fair, as compared to US elections.
Although i was surprised to learn that photo ID was not previously required to vote in the UK.
No, there’s not much hope over here in the states. The establishment is too firmly entrenched, and will allow no challenges to its legitimacy (witness the reaction to the Jan 6 “insurrection”).
I like to think of the Republicans and Democrats as two divisions of Big Gov, Inc. The two divisions quarrel with each other at times, and always will compete for advantage, but in the end they both are loyal only to Big Gov, Inc. We are the marks – we exist only to provide profit to support Big Gov, who care only for the corporation and not at all for the little people who they are occasionally forced to take notice of.
As seen over the last 4 years, the system is too deeply entrenched to dislodge. Occasionally, a skirmish will be won by our side, and then quickly nullified. We are so f$#@*%d.
Voting was very effective at securing Brexit (not perfect but good enough). Boris took us out *entirely* to eliminate the existential threat Farage posed to the Tory Party. And that means Farage won the war for a non-BRINO Brexit without winning a single battle in Westminster. Many people made Brexit happen, but it was Farage who stopped BRINO from happening. And that was because millions would have abandoned the Tories only because Farage gave them a meaningful alternative. The result of the final Euro election was paradoxically one of the most important UK election in British political history.
Voting mattered.
But what is not effective is continuing to vote for the Lesser Evil even after it starts to look very much like the Greater Evil. Would the last year and a half really been all that different under Labour? I doubt it. So, for all their faults, I’ll be voting Reform UK for now, but if the Tories rediscover classical liberalism, I might vote Tory once again in the future, but I’m not holding my breath on that score. The day the Tories ditch NetZero is the day I even think about it. But voting Tory to keep Labour out at this stage is just telling the Tories NetZero & locksdowns are perfectly ok.
Perry:
As you say, at the last general election the Labour Party were offering a Green New Deal, and banning the sale of petrol engined cars by 2030. I was very much against these things, and voted Conservative. After being elected, Bunter and his collection of nodding dogs instituted the exact same policies. What is the point? Mr Galloway’s phrase “two cheeks of the same arse” has never seemed so appropriate.
As an active member of the Conservative Party since 1979, I would be expected to crush Perry’s words with a demonstration of evidence and logical argument about how well we are doing in limiting government and in safeguarding traditional liberties against the Marxist “Woke” attack.
So I will now begin my presentation of evidence and development of argument…..
Err – I will get back to you on this.
It is late, I need to go to bed.
As far as I can see the only thing that would ever make any difference would be if EVERYONE spoiled their ballot.
Representative democracy is an utter farce, but it would become untenable for them to claim they have a mandate when the winning party got 100,000 votes from a country of 70-whatever million people.