Calling all Tories. Why do you Tory?

[Tb1981]

It is interesting you think the current Tories are centrists and Labour are hard left.

I did say the last labour leadership not current
Explains a lot about the last election I think

 

[Rascal]

I did say the last labour leadership not current
Explains a lot about the last election I think

It doesn't really answer the questions i asked in the OP but its a valuable insight nonetheless.

 

[Tb1981]

It doesn't really answer the questions i asked in the OP but its a valuable insight nonetheless.

I would say people can vote Tory without identifying as ‘tory’
Hence the person stays centre ground but the party moves left or right.
I can’t speak for lifelong Tory’s, as myself I am more a labour voter who has changed

 

[Rascal]

I would say people can vote Tory without identifying as ‘tory’
Hence the person stays centre ground but the party moves left or right.
I can’t speak for lifelong Tory’s, as myself I am more a labour voter who has changed

Of course they can we live in a democracy.

Its not what I want to know mind but its a valid point.

I want to know why people have a mindset that leads to them taking right wing positions.

I will qualify that, I have always been of the opinion the Tories are master's of convincing people to vote against their own interests and for the interests of capital. This thread up to know is proving my theorem to be correct because there is only a handful of ideological Tories who have replied.

 

[mat]

Only the swivel eyed loons admit to voting Tory.

Working class Tories I know never admit to doing it and always turn the conversation into "Labour are shit"

 

[Tb1981]

Only the swivel eyed loons admit to voting Tory.

Working class Tories I know never admit to doing it and always turn the conversation into "Labour are shit"

They don’t admit to it to save time on listening to people lecture them about it.

 

[NeilYoungIsBack]

It was always a safe seat I meant... typically thousands of votes between Labour and second place.... This time it was much closer

(it was actually 213 votes but I'd say that's close)

View attachment 9219

Labour's only remaining seat in Wales north of Merthyr.

 

[I'm With Stupid]

I will qualify that, I have always been of the opinion the Tories are master's of convincing people to vote against their own interests and for the interests of capital.

There are quite a few areas where Tory ideals may be appealing to the working class though. There are a lot of people in the working class who are either self-employed or single-person companies, who might notice a difference in their pocket as a result of a low-tax economy. When it comes to something like immigration, it is often the working classes that suffer. Most economists will tell you that immigration is a net benefit to the economy, but that doesn't mean that specific working class people in specific sectors aren't harmed as a result when there's an influx of cheaper labour. I get why a bricklayer may question open borders when a load of Eastern European bricklayers come over in the same way that I understand why licenced cabbies would complain about Uber. It doesn't mean they're right, but they're certainly acting in their self interest, not because they've somehow been tricked.

The other thing is that it's the working classes who live side-by-side with the apparent (and sometimes obvious) scroungers and benefit cheats, which can easily make them susceptible to right-wing views. I've heard them from my parents. Neither of them vote Tory, but you hear them moaning about how the bloke next door got a free car because he's on disability, but last week we saw him digging up the garden. Or I've worked hard to pay off this mortgage, but my sister's never worked a day in her life and has just been handed one by the council (both real examples). That innate sense of injustice, valid or not, can definitely cause people to vote against those on benefits even if they are only one rung of the ladder ahead of them. And sure, it's nothing compared to tax dodging from big business or billionaires, but most of us aren't living next door to Philip Green.

 

[PragueBlue]

I tend to vote for whoever I think is best at that particular time. I have voted Tory, Liberal and Labour at various times.

 

[Cheesy]

Only the swivel eyed loons admit to voting Tory.

Working class Tories I know never admit to doing it and always turn the conversation into "Labour are shit"

I'm working class and, as I mentioned earlier in the thread, I voted Tory last time around partly because I'd have been worse off under a Labour government.

There are millions more like me out there.