To Vote Tory Or Not – that is the question?

26 Apr 2010 4 Comments

by Clare Macnaughton in Blogging, Opinion, Politics Mummy Military Tags: Vote Tory or Not Cameron Blair Brown

I am one of Thatcher’s children. When I was at school, and because of Margaret Thatcher’s meteoric rise to power, I believed that I could do whatever I wanted. She showed me that women could be anything that they wanted to be when they grew up. This was before I was old enough to vote, but in my heart, I was a militant Tory. I left school and Thatcher was eventually overthrown. I learnt that to achieve her ‘Iron Lady ‘status she was really a man without a penis, and really she didn’t do anything for women, other than show us to be truly powerful you need to act like men.

I hit my teens, left school and went walkabout; physically, socially and geo-politcially. I abandoned politics and dedicated myself to hedonism with vigour. I was at University for the Blair landslide victory. I knew we were f*cked a long time before he won. I read an article in Cosmopolitan with him and John Major. Blair talked about kittens and cashmere. Major talked about economic policy. I thought at the time, I don’t want some fella who talks about shoes and handbags running UK plc. I want someone who talks about economic policy and business. I didn’t care that John Major was dull. He had his head in the right space, so that I could think about kittens and crochet instead. I watched the Labour landslide all night, until the last vote wast counted. I wanted to savour the history. I knew that I was experiencing ‘live history’ and that my great-great- grandchildren would learn about Blair, like I had learnt about Gladstone.

In each election I voted, not for the parties, but for the suffragettes who had died to enable me to do so. My first ever election vote was Lib Dem, and at the last election I voted for The Green Party. I felt betrayed by politics. I felt that politics had let me down. But now I feel I have no choice but to vote Conservative. Jeff Randall on Sky News tonight was talking to an Economic specialist, who said that non of the parties’ electoral policies go anywhere near addressing the seriousness of the economic pallor that UK plc is suffering.

Personally, I think the Tories are avoiding policy for this very reason. They want to get into power and examine the detritus. The legacy of female friendly, Blair and backstabbing, bullying Brown. The prognosis is going to be very bad, and the cuts the nation faces in order to recover from the deficit, will leave the nation with a body and head if we are lucky, but maybe just head. This level of spending is simply unsustainable, and everything will be cut to such an extent that each individual, who has a job will be thanking their lucky stars just to keep it. People who still have jobs will be working more hours for considerably less pay, paying higher taxes and that is under any of the parties that get into power. The size of the debt is meteoric.

How I feel right now is this – not do I just want to vote Conservatives but I want to join them. I want to become a card carrying member. I want change. I want growth and I want recovery. Maybe they are the best of a heinous bunch but I believe the City is behind them and so I think realistically they are our best bet. I know the city put us here but after famine there can be feast. To repay debt you need to generate wealth.

What should I do? What are you going to do? What do you think? Do you think it’s not that bad? Are you burying your head in the sand? To vote Tory, or not – that is the question?

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