And so, as everyone knew, the Conservatives are barely represented in UK society today, having suffered the worst defeat in British political history. While there will be lots of jubilation for those who voted Labour, I can't help feeling that the biggest factor in their victory was that the Tories handed it to them on a plate, not only with their behaviour but also the arrogance of their belief in the former majority they held and that it wasn't won through any groundbreaking manifesto promises. In my opinion, a large proportion voted Labour to "Get the Tories out". To coin a phrase: "How the mighty have fallen." But as has been pointed out, that's democracy for you, and it proves that "Votes" do count.
Obviously, as a lifelong Tory voter myself, I'm not convinced that Labour is the answer or can address the problems facing us today, but they now have five years and an unbeatable majority to prove myself and my fellow Conservative voters wrong. From my point of view, all I can hope for now is for the Party to overhaul itself and look for By-Election opportunities to start clawing seats back.
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Steve
in reply to dick_turpin • • •As I've said many times, this was a self-inflicted loss. Moderate voters went to Labour or Lib-Dems and leavers went for Reform. The Tories were divided and drove out the moderates as they tried to out-flank Farage.
Obviously the vote shares are not reflected in seats, but that's FPTP. Tories + Reform could have won together, but a lot of voters fear extremism.
Labour need to show they can improve things, but it won't be easy. They are not the lefties of old.
Sorry for your loss
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Alex
in reply to dick_turpin • • •dick_turpin
in reply to Alex • •I think it would be naive to think the Conservatives will cease to exist after this. It's a good question to ask if RefomUK is actually a viable political party, but more importantly, is this the seeds of a sustainable movement? While everyone says, "UKIP was just to get us out of Europe", they were a viable party that fell apart once Farage walked away, so could the same thing happen with ReformUK?
There are probably a few Tories within the party that agree with ReformUK policies; hell, even I like a few of them, but I doubt the Conservative Party would actively promote another Party, which would be ridiculous. Most of these defections we saw back and forth leading up to the election were selfish cowards within the Party looking to save their own skin [seat] rather than any political convictions.
Whether we like it or not, we have to acknowledge that out of all our politicians, Farage is probably the only one who has actually achieved what he said he would do: Brexit. I'm surprised he didn't cash in that chip during the campaign process, as that may have won him one or two more seats, at least.
I waivered at the end and considered for a few hours voting ReformUK but found that while my representatives pissed up my back while telling me it was raining, I couldn't bring myself to do it as I still believe in Conservative core values such as Freedom, Low Taxes and Opportunity.
penguin42
in reply to Alex • • •Heck I hope the Conservatives find some sane and charismatic leader this time; they really need someone who can communicate.
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Neil Darlow :gotosocial: :silverblue: :xmpp:
in reply to dick_turpin • • •dick_turpin
in reply to Neil Darlow :gotosocial: :silverblue: :xmpp: • •Chris Ellis
in reply to dick_turpin • • •so it turned out even Brexit couldn't heal there internal divisions.
It's just a shame they could not put the country first, rather than their internal problems.
It will be interesting to see when Sunak steps down.
dick_turpin
in reply to Chris Ellis • •