Why Vote Tory?

[andrew1707]

Not looking for a fight or any name calling, I just really would like to know...

I have never understood why working class/lower middle class people vote Tory when the Labour party better represent their interests. I know that the Labour Party is not perfect and I understand many of the reasons that people choose not to vote for them... but why vote Tory?

So I would love to hear from Tory voters what it is about the Tory party that earns them their vote.

Thanks
Andrew

[naomi24]

Like Togo, I too came from a very poor background, but that aside he said something that resonated with me. He said, “The herd instinct was never in my psyche, less still the need to wear the mantle of victimhood and the covetousness of others”. Could there be something in that? Is it all about attitude to life?

[New Judge]

“Is it all about attitude to life?”

I think it certainly is, naomi. I too came from a poor background. My Dad was a painter and decorator, my Mum a wages clerk. We had little to spare and youngsters today would not believe the “deprivation” that youngsters like me suffered. (My friends and I saw ourselves in no way deprived. We had a life that many youngsters today would do well to follow and we just got on with it – and had a great time).

I think the biggest advantage I had was that I went to a superb school which not only taught me to a high standard, but it also instilled self-respect and self-reliance in me. I was left in no doubt that the only person who was going to “make it happen” for me was me. It was the single most valuable piece of advice I ever received. That is why I thrived in the Thatcher years. Not all went well for me all of the time, but I knew that I was the one who would shape my future and Mrs T’s philosophy supported that. Many youngsters today seem to have the idea that they cannot make it happen for themselves and that only a nanny-state (or a grandma EU) can do it for them. They are wrong.

[jim360]

And here I was just assuming that most people voted Tory because they liked Tory policies, in general.

[wolf63]

Many years ago my mother voted for the Communist party.

I am uncertain who I shall vote for at this election. At least we won't end up with Trump.

[New Judge]

I do like Tory policies (in general) Jim. I don’t like all of them but I like more than I dislike. That might be because of my outlook on life as I described above. I don’t want a government run every aspect of my life, provide for me and spend my money for me. I can do it far better than they can.

[Togo]

//And here I was just assuming that most people voted Tory because they liked Tory policies, in general. //

There it is in a nutshell. People like Judge, Naomi, myself and millions of others who know what struggle and hard work , physical grinding hard work, really is, seen it been it, and vowed to make things better for ourselves are catcalled by the pseudo "workers". People who have never done or seen family do a shift, bombard us with "messages" on how they can make things better for us by punishing the nasty achievers. We are the bogey men for the Marxist malcontents, who are in the main from backgrounds that we would have considered sheltered and privileged and they want to tell us how they can make things easier for us whilst just maintaining their own easy life is the aim. Have a look at the real backgrounds of the Labour party leaders over the last 40 years and then think again.

[naomi24]

^Ditto to that!

[jim360]

As it happens, my point was mainly to draw attention to what strikes me as a rather silly question. The statement "Labour better represents [the working class's] interests" is not intrinsically true -- especially not if they're unable to actually *do* anything, as is true now -- so I tend to think that supporting one party or another is a matter of what they are saying *now*, as opposed to what they were like *then*. Otherwise I may as well evaluate the Tories based on, say, Baldwin or MacMillan, neither of whom were what you'd call shining lights in our history. Or Heath.

I don't feel like I could vote for the Tories now, because I don't like their policies, in general. I don't feel some tribalistic call one way or the other.

[Garaman]

The workplace is somewhat like a pyramid requiring more at the bottom and fewer at the top. As another who came from a poor background and have done quite well, I feel saddened that poorer children now have less chance of climbing that pyramid than we had. We also have to remember that only so many can climb the pyramid and shouldn't assume to tell all the others to come up behind us.

[Jackdaw33]

I agree with Jim about Heath, but not Baldwin or Macmillan. Both led the Tory party to some of their largest victories.

[jim360]

Well yes, but then so did John Major -- largest number of votes ever won by a political party -- and he generally seems to get a bad rep here. I don't think Baldwin achieved much of note, neither did MacMillan that I'm aware of. Perhaps that's a bit harsh, though.

Maybe I should have gone with Antony "Let's just get Israel to pretend to attack Egypt, because that's obviously a brilliant idea" Eden instead.

[naomi24]

Garaman, //I feel saddened that poorer children now have less chance of climbing that pyramid than we had.//

Never fear! Grammar schools (some having survived – and which poor kids like me, and I believe Togo and New Judge also, would thank) are about to resurface! Hurrah to that!!

[Garaman]

I was only a secondary tech man myself, Naomi, but I agree that grammar schools gave a lot of poorer kids a better start than they seem to be getting now.

[naomi24]

Garaman, 'one size fits all' doesn't work. It leaves the brightest wanting and those who need that bit of extra help floundering.

[andrew1707]

Thank you everyone one for your answers, I do appreciate your candour.

I understand that everyone wants to be rewarded for hard work, who wouldn’t want to be! I just find that the Conservative’s individualistic view of the world creates winners and losers.

A good example of this is Grammar Schools: These give bright working class kids the opportunity to have a better education... but what about the kids who aren’t as bright or don’t have parents who push them to pass the test? These kids are left behind in underfunded sink schools. Studies have shown that there is no overall educational benefit by having Grammar schools. All they do is benefit a few at the expense of the many.

Anyway, I don’t want to get into a political rant. I was just interested to know what made people vote Tory.

Thanks

[Garaman]

The Tripartite System of Education wasn't perfect, Andrew, and as you say only the brighter of the working class kids benefited. The problem is that with the system that has replaced it fewer working class kids are benefiting.

[scooping]

Loved that Guilbert.

[scooping]

Andrew: Jeremy Corbyn's son is at a selective grammar school. Diane Abbot's kid is at a private school and Emily Thornberry's two kids are at a selective school 14 miles from their home. when Abbot was criticised about this she got her son to phone a phone-in saying that it was his decision to go private and not his mum's! One reason that us Tories loath Labour is their appalling hypocrisy.

[naomi24]

andrew, //All they [grammar schools] do is benefit a few at the expense of the many.//

I don’t understand that. The few do benefit, but how does it follow that the ‘many’ suffer? They’re in mainstream schools anyway. I think it’s more a case of the many can’t have it simply because they aren’t bright enough - and therefore, in Labour’s world, no one should have it – except of course the children of those Labour politicians whose philosophy is ‘Do as I say, not as I do’.