British Election

Funny? Yes.
True? Not really.
So who would you vote for?

 

British Elections

Hi,

my not very inventive nom de guerre is xtvpry and I'm new to this forum. I see that someone has started a thread about the British elections and since I started one on the Warships board I thought that I could possibly add something to this one.

As I understand it, the purpose of this thread is to give American contributors some insight into British politics.

The two main parties in British politics are Labour (Tony Blair) and Conservative (Michael Howard). Superficially they resemble the Democrat's and the Republican's. Since the 1920's they have both been in and out of government. Before WW1 government changed hands between the Conservatives (otherwise known as "the Tories") and the Liberal Party. Today the Liberal Party is largely a repository of protest votes. They have tried to define themselves on various issues since the 1970's; they are in favour of introducing Proportional Representation in the voting system; they are in favour 'consensus' as opposed to 'adversarial' politics of European integration although it is difficult to imagine a more adversarial politician than their present leader, Charles kennedy who strikes me as a belligerant, fat, little, pri*k. In so far as the Liberal's have any big ideas to offer any more, those are the only two they have got. Also neither Proportional Representation (PR) nor Europe are particularly popular so they are not talking about them at the moment. The Liberal Party gets a lot of 'protest' votes and tactical votes from the other two political parties. They also campaign heavily on local issues - 'pavement' (sidewalk) issues as we call it.

The Conservate Party (Tory) has been characterised in the past as 'the bosses party'. The party of 'the wealthy' or 'the middle class.' Of course it is not as simple as that. The Conservatives have often tried to break down class barriers providing opportunities for social mobility. They used to say "We are all middle class now". Another slogan was "The property owning democracy." Margaret Thatcher did most to advance this notion when she allowed council house tenants to buy their own houses. This was hugely popular at the time but the policy was not without its critics. The Tories are also more nationalistic and patriotic than Labour. They are also the great defenders of "Law and Order" and Defence.


The Labour Party is nominally at least, socialist. Traditionally it is the Party of the working man. Nowadays, it is in many respects more rightwing than the Conservatives.

But now the Cold War is over. The Tories are hoplessly divided on Europe. Like John Kerry they were 'in favour of the war in Iraq before they were against it.' All the Tories can talk about now are immigration and government waste. The Labour Party has stolen the Conservative Party's clothes over the economy and the war on terror. The Labour Party has been purged of its socialists in the 1980's. They have become 'new Labour' which is actually remarkably like the Conservatives at their best. They are free market capitalists in favour of individual freedom etc. Some Labour activists are not very happy about this. They are all mixed up. How can this be happening they say? The Liberal Party has spotted an opening and is seeking to position itself as the party of the Left. Imagine if in the 1960's Labour Prime Minister Harold Wilson had said to LBJ, "We are your closest ally. We back you over Vietnam all the way" Unthinkable to rank and file Labour supporters. Yet this is what has just happened in the War on Terror between Tony Blair and George Bush.

Who will win? Labour of course. They don't have any big ideas to offer and our taxes have gone up far too much lately. There is also far too little to show for all that extra government spending.

But Tony Blair exudes confidence. Much of what he says is banal waffle. At least he is less irritating than Howard or Kennedy.

No one wants to mention the war. No one wants to mention Europe. In the absense of these two great divisiive issues there is nothing left to talk about which stirs up any passions.


The whole thing is one big bore.

 

We're all waiting for John Prescot to liven things up by taking a swing at someone.

Step forward Mister Prescot your country needs you.

 

John Prescot?

John Prescot? He is a baffoon! He is only there as a token working class 'deputy leader.' He is only a front man.

You mean Gordon Brown the Chancellor of the Exchequer. The man who is in charge of economic policy. He is the man who wants to lead the Labour Party and some think he should have replaced Blair long ago.

He is the hope of all those who think that Blair has betrayed Labour's socialist roots. But Brown is no socialist. He is a Free Market capitalist and he opposes further European integration. Not all that leftwing then.

Brown is an enigma. I don't trust him. I know very little about him. I do not really know what he would be like as Prime Minister.

 

Re: John Prescot?

It appears that the 'Fuckwit' link to John Prescott has been removed from Google.

:smok:

 

Re: John Prescot?

I dont think he will be a friend to the armed forces....unless the project is based in a labour constituency.

 

It appears that someone has thrown an egg at him again unfortunately he was in labour's battlebus at the time though given his reaction last time a lucky escape for the egg thrower.

 

Yesterday but one the parties released their manifestos for the upcoming elections. I read what two newspapers said about them. The Daily Mirror (or the Blair press) said:

The Conservative manifesto included the usual lies about Labour failure, sums that don't add up and impossible targets fot the future. The Liberal Democrats showed how they intend to cut taxes and raise spending in all areas without a word on how this is going to be done. In contrast, Labour were able to safely show all that they have achieved over the last eight years, and solid and realistic plans for the future.

The Daily Mail said:

Labour today released their pre-election book of lies. Promising no more tax cuts (despite the sixty-six we have had already). Along with yet more lies about their costly achievements and more information aboutr how they intend to destroy Britain further.


Quite different, aren't they?

 

If I were a Conservative MP or candidate I would be (of course) hoping to win my seat but have an overall Labour victory as whoever is in power in the next few years is going to get blamed when Gordon Brown's economic chickens come home to roost.

I would get paid a MP's salary etc and be able to criticse an increasingly disliked government while not having to have any of my own policies put to the test.

I think the Liberals have twigged on this already and I suspect some labour MP's are thinking this way and hoping for a Tory win as long as they keep their own seats.



:smok:

 

Gorden Brown has messed up how he invests our money completely. It's only a metter of time until our economy crashes down around us! :-?

 

Try this link - it is very good.

http://www.whoshouldyouvotefor.com/

You answer a questionnaire, and it tells you how much you agree & disagree with each party.

I came out as Lib Dem, but I have issues with some of their policies, so no thanks.

btw - did anybody else see the story about the Muslim Lib Dem candidate who advised his Muslim constituants not to vote for the Labour candidate because she was a Jew?
:evil:
I got really quite annoyed at that. Especially because I found it on page 9 of a newspaper (page 1 was 'Camilla misses public appointment - is she suitable to be a Royal' :roll: ). If somebody had distributed leaflets saying 'don't vote Lib Dem, he's Muslim', or even 'don't vote Party X, she's a woman / he's black / whatever'... there would have been a HUGE backlash. But no... :evil:
The really stupid part is - she's not Jewish. :roll: :angry:

 

Having voted Labour all my life, I was a little surprised to get a UKIP result :-?

 

Well, my second-best option was the Green Party!

 

No doubt you won't be surprised to see I got the same results as Ricky.

 

Yes, I admit, I'm secretly Dutch!

(Only kidding)

 

Good link Ricky.

Sadly it asks too few questions to build up an accurate profile.

It suggested I vote for a party I have never voted for in General or Local elections. I scored -4 for a party I have voted for quite recently.

But it was good fun

 

i came out as lib dem but only just from labour.

i vote according to where i have lived, therefore i am a tactical voter.

if it was for a party nationwide on a simple who got the most votes wins i would vote labour, in the last 2 elections i have voted lib dem just to unseat the existing conservative mp because i live in a rural constituency and labour have no hope.

in 2001 it worked and the con mp lost to the lib dems, this year im in a different constituency but with the same choice, so i will be voting lib dem just to try and unseat the conservative mp again!

 

I tried the questionaire

I came out as Conservative by a large margin.

I refuse to vote for them.

In my opinion, they have run a lack lustre campaign. They are bereft of ideas. They are hopelessly divided in the big issues of the day - Iraq and Europe. They have betrayed their natural allies - the USA over Iraq in a pathetic attempt to court public opinion.

I am not interested in the Tory candidate nor in whether the sitting Labour MP, who is bound to be re-elected anyway, has done a good job or not. I have no interest in local issues.

Three teams of management accountants vying for our attention with platitudinous soundbites and ridiculous costings for spending plans for national budgets which differ in respect of amounts which total less than 0.9% of GDP.

 

"The Sun" announced yesterday that they were backing Labour, so that's the election basically decided then... :roll:

 

OMG! I got UKIP!