Funky_Gibbon Posted May 15, 2010 Share Posted May 15, 2010 True, but it takes about ten million voters to get elected. No, all it takes is enough Lib-Dem and Conservative voters to be annoyed enough with the government to switch their votes to other parties. That's what happened to Labour and that is what will happen to both the Tories and the Lib-Dems as time goes on. In the case of the Lib-Dems there are plenty of people who are horrified that they've formed a formal coalition with agreements to simply abstain on any policy they don't like (which in effect is much the same as voting in favour) and have given these assurances for very little in return. Or they're simply horrified that the supposed left-wing party they joined after abandoning Labour is now rubberstamping the same right-wing policies they stood against in the election. In the case of the Tories, there are a number of classic Conservatives who have never liked Cameron but kept quiet because he could get them elected. Now they're in government but having to work with a party whose beliefs are the anti-thesis of their own. Pro-Europe. Pro-immigration. Pro-taxation of the rich. Liberal. Some of these are likely to defect to UKIP over time because Cameron can't implement the kinds of policies they want and keep the Lib-Dems on board at the same time. Austerity policies will also not enamor the coalition government to the electorate and most of them won't care that Labour were the government when the world recession hit, no matter how many times Cameron and Clegg repeat it (and they will). Whoever has the top job gets the blame and abstaining doesn't absolve you of it either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
I1L2T3 Posted May 15, 2010 Share Posted May 15, 2010 there are a number of classic Conservatives who have never liked Cameron but kept quiet because he could get them elected Agree with everything you said but Cameron couldn't get them elected. He failed and he knows it. Everybody knows it. They're not ready for government. Senior Tories said so and the electorate judged it so. This is a point that will become ever more important in the coming months. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
natjack Posted May 15, 2010 Share Posted May 15, 2010 Agree with everything you said but Cameron couldn't get them elected. He failed and he knows it. Everybody knows it. They're not ready for government. Senior Tories said so and the electorate judged it so. This is a point that will become ever more important in the coming months.I'm not that well up on politics, was never really very interested before this one but carping on your own team. Bad times! You post as though you have the inside track and you know what you're talking about. Are you a Tory yourself? You're saying that the Conservatives shouldn't have put anyone up for election because even their own oldies thought they weren't up to it? But given that everyone couldn't wait to get shot of Labour, who do you think could have got elected? These 'senior' Tories who said that their own party were rubbish, why are they still in it? Are they going to join Labour as well or UKIP? Who are they? Did they think they should be the head of the party? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A.B.Yaffle Posted May 15, 2010 Share Posted May 15, 2010 Agree with everything you said but Cameron couldn't get them elected. He failed and he knows it. Everybody knows it. They're not ready for government. Senior Tories said so and the electorate judged it so. This is a point that will become ever more important in the coming months. Cameron may have made a mistake in announcing that he is changing the law so that a vote of no confidence cannot remove him. Tory MPs may feel that it is now safe to vote against the government on any issue they disagree with if he passes the law to make it impossible to remove them even when the Liberal MPs fall out with them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
I1L2T3 Posted May 15, 2010 Share Posted May 15, 2010 I'm not that well up on politics, was never really very interested before this one but carping on your own team. Bad times! You post as though you have the inside track and you know what you're talking about. Are you a Tory yourself? You're saying that the Conservatives shouldn't have put anyone up for election because even their own oldies thought they weren't up to it? But given that everyone couldn't wait to get shot of Labour, who do you think could have got elected? These 'senior' Tories who said that their own party were rubbish, why are they still in it? Are they going to join Labour as well or UKIP? Who are they? Did they think they should be the head of the party? No inside track. If you listen to the radio and watch certain programs on TV you'll hear the views of members of all parties loud and clear. On no account am I saying Labour were any better prepared for government and all the evidence suggests that most people were (quite rightly) fed up with them. The question is why couldn't the Tories capitalise on that - it should have been an easy stroll in. You can't even say the Libs split the vote. They didn't. They polled only slightly more than last time and even lost seats. We're being governed by a party that the electorate don't want and backed up by a party that has not governed for almost a 100 years. Scary stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
I1L2T3 Posted May 15, 2010 Share Posted May 15, 2010 Cameron may have made a mistake in announcing that he is changing the law so that a vote of no confidence cannot remove him. Tory MPs may feel that it is now safe to vote against the government on any issue they disagree with if he passes the law to make it impossible to remove them even when the Liberal MPs fall out with them. Huge mistake. They talk about the power to recall MPs that don't perform while simultaneously looking to lock for 5 years in an experimental government that could fall apart in months. What happens if they screw up on the economy even more than Labour and we can't get em out for 5 years? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vague_Boy Posted May 16, 2010 Share Posted May 16, 2010 If all of the Lib-Dem voters who tended to side more with Labour than the Tories, abandoned their party and started voting for Labour ... would the remaining Lib-Dems end up simply joining the Tories, and would we end up with just two parties again? Nope. Moving in the right direction again! Surely you mean the left direction? It's truly amazing that some people still think of New Labour as 'socialists' ! A lot of people just don't think very deeply about politics or pay much attention to political news. A lot of it is "my granddad voted Labour, my dad voted Labour and I vote Labour". Jeez, don't ever consider, y'know thinking for yourself or anything. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vague_Boy Posted May 16, 2010 Share Posted May 16, 2010 and most of them won't care that Labour were the government when the world recession hit I'm sorry but did the rest of the world set our budgets or spend money like water? The Labour government were not innocent bystanders who just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. To Gordon Brown, it's all "global" this or "global" that, or "it started in America" (except when Obama's in the room of course, then he's as quiet as a mouse). It's really quite wonderful how it's all worked out for him. Everything good is/was down to Gordon's wise leadership, everything bad is down to those smelly foreigners who just can't seem to get the hang of money. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mj.scuba Posted May 16, 2010 Share Posted May 16, 2010 Is it a coincidence that membership is increasing now Brown has gone? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
discodown Posted May 16, 2010 Share Posted May 16, 2010 Its interesting the level of bile that lib voters have for Clegg now. He was always going to be the difference maker, if you wanted him to do a deal with labour why didn't they vote labour? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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