The case for voting Conservative

Michael

The liberty agenda... unless it crosses paths with his social liberalism. In which case authoritarianism wins out. Catholic adoption agencies, anyone?

echo34

Labour and the libdems current methods of criticizing tory economic policy whilst having none of their own is music..sweet music.

I was under the impression labour wanted to go into this election as the underdog, but the yellow/reds will be seen to be ganging up if not bullying the tories, resulting in the blues gaining more sympathy from the electorate.

Ron Todd

Tax and benefits needs a serious simplification.

Re legalising fox hunting is not a vote winner and little to do with liberty. If I want to kick my dog should I be allowed in the name of liberty?

We need a repeal of anti terror laws that are used against ordinary people.

We have tripled spending on the NHS with the result that GPs get paid more for doing less while non English speaking doctors do it for them. And we cannot get the good drugs that most of Europe gets. Why not make soom cuts.

As for foreign charity. When we are at Greek levels of debt why should we give money to countries with nuclear weapons programmes?

biggestaspidistra

I only see six reasons (1 - 6) and then a lot of padding.

Robert Eve

Time to smash the unions again methinks.

jsfl

I agree with much of what you say except one thing. You really shouldn't have mentioned Europe because the Conservative response has only been marginally less insulting than Labour or the Libdems

I hope the constraints in the British Constitution are more sensible than those in the Irish one and ban repeat referendums for at least 35 years (which is how long we've been waiting for another referendum on the EU). Whats the point in having them if the Government forces you to keep having referendums until they get the answer they want?

There is no reason related to Europe to vote for the Conservatives as they will find out in 2014 unless they buck their ideas up. Once Brown and Labour have been dispatched, it's a whole new ball-game.

Vulture

Needless to say, Fraser does not mention the issue that opinion polls say is the No.1 concern of voters after the economy.

Clue: it begins with the letter 'I'.

And the reason for his coyness is clear - the Tories cannot ( even if they wanted to, which they clearly don't) do anything about the floodtide that is overwhelming the nation because they are signed up to the EU rules.

If you think I exaggerate, read today's Daily Mail lead story abt the situation in Peterborough, once a typical Middle England town, now virtually an open sewer with 27 languages spoken in a single school, and surgeries, social services, police and housing overwhelmed by (mainly) East Europeans here drawing our benefits.

Two local Independent councillors have written three times since January to Brown Dave and Clegg begging for help. They have yet to receive a reply.

That shows how much the leaders of ConLabLib care about the people they are asking to vote for them. And then they wonder why the BNP are gaining ground.

JohnPage

The cover is a tribute to Labour’s brilliant Ashes to Ashes meme, by the brilliant Jonathan Cusick.

Yes it's all brilliant.

Except that it's not. As Richard North puts it:

It says a great deal that the munificent Boy King is prattling about "giving" four million married couples tax breaks worth up to £150 a year, when his party's energy policy is set to cost every couple in the land an average of £600 per year ...

http://eureferendum.blogspot.com/2010/04/indifference-compounded-by-derision.html

On Today, as noted by The Telegraph but not your own account of his interview, Cameron hadn't even ruled out toll charges on existing roads.

anne allan

It is noticeable that Cameron does better when things hot up. During the phoney war there were some avoidable muddles.
Given that the unions will create mayhem once a Conservqtive government starts to sort out the economy, David Cameron and his team will need every bit of resolve to stand up to their bullying.

denis cooper

"8. Europe. Now that the hated EU referendum has been passed in defiance of British public opinion, there is not much we can do to reverse it."

You mean the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe which was rejected by the French and the Dutch in their national referendums; the legal contents of which treaty were then recast as the Reform, later the Lisbon, Treaty at the behest of Angela Merkel; which was then rejected by the Irish in their first referendum, the only national referendum she could not prevent, but accepted by the Irish when they were forced to vote again; and which has been imposed on the British people by their own Parliament, once again at the behest of foreign governments, without the referendum promised by all but a handful of MPs in their 2005 election manifestos.

Of course we could reverse its most important effects; to claim otherwise is to deny the legal supremacy of our national Parliament, which having passed the European Union (Amendment) Act 2008 to give effect to the Lisbon Treaty in our national law, could also pass a Lisbon Treaty (Disapplication) Act to selectively repeal most of its previous Act.

I realise that the Conservatives are led by a man whose primary allegiance is to the EU, not to this country and its people, who is totally committeed to the principle of "ever closer union" even if it leads to the extinction of this country as an independent sovereign state, as it eventually must, and who therefore believes as a matter of course that the EU treaties and laws should be accorded primacy over laws passed by our national Parliament.

But where do you stand, Frazer?

For the legal supremacy of our national Parliament within our own country, or for the primacy of the EU treaties and laws thoughout the planned new country of "Europe"?

If the latter, why are you getting so exercised about what you must see as little more than a provincial election?

Short the UK

I'm back on board. Slowly but surely Cam is dropping his Blue Labour strategy. January and February were terrible months as the campaign got underway. In the past 3 weeks Cam has gone Blue Conservative and the message has got crisper. If he keeps it up he'll get a strong majority and Labour will limp off into civil war, who knows they could totally implode and the LibDems become the 2nd party.

The new posters are ace and Michael Caine on board is wonderful.

Brown is about to face the reckoning.

Robert

The fox hunting ban repeal is a trap for NuLabour... It was a class-dogma waste of an enormous amount of Parliamentary time that needs publicity. Please quantify this for us.

Bruce, UK

"Now that the hated EU referendum has been passed in defiance of British public opinion, there is not much we can do to reverse it."

Spherical and plural.

Summer

Ron Todd. Of course Fox Hunting is to do with liberty. Foxes need controlling it is good environmental practice. The reason hunting was banned, had noting to do with foxes and everything to do with revenge and hatred towards people socialists don't approve of.

It is a matter of liberty that every British Subject lives their life as they deem fit, speaking their own truth, within a legal framework that discourages behaviour deemed anti-social by peers. (the basis of British Common Law). In this atmosphere diversity flourishes for the common good. (And, no, if your peers deem it anti-social and harmful you will be strongly discouraged from injuring your dog by kicking it.)

The socialist way is to ban everything and only permit the lifestyle that is deemed 'suitable' by a politicl elite. (that is the basis of EU law). This is authoritarian, and supresses innovation and self-expression. (Of course the political elite rarely live by the rules themselves!!)

Banning foxhunting, is symbolic of socialist thinking. How can you ban the necessary control of a countryside pest, whilst permitting the completely barbaric and unnecessary killing of animals in order to gratify a manmade, unfounded 'religious' belief?

You are quite right foxhunting is not a huge vote winner; except with those of us who understand the principals of British liberty - and to us it is a vital sign that the Tories have not signed a pact with the devil.

Neil Turner

Interesting post

The three reasons I, as a Toty voter of 30 years, won't be voting for them are

1. The EU - I want a referendum on in out

2. Political Correctness - I am sickened at how the Tories have chosen to elevate militant homosexuality over Christianity

3. Climate Change - Christopher Booker's excellent piece in the Telegraph opens with "One of the best-kept secrets of British politics – although it is there for all to see on a Government website – is the cost of what is by far the most expensive piece of legislation ever put through Parliament. Every year between now and 2050, acccording to Ed Miliband's Department for Energy and Climate Change (Decc), the Climate Change Act is to cost us all up to £18.3 billion – £760 for every household in the country – as we reduce our carbon emissions by 80 per cent.One of the best-kept secrets of British politics – although it is there for all to see on a Government website – is the cost of what is by far the most expensive piece of legislation ever put through Parliament. Every year between now and 2050, acccording to Ed Miliband's Department for Energy and Climate Change (Decc), the Climate Change Act is to cost us all up to £18.3 billion – £760 for every household in the country – as we reduce our carbon emissions by 80 per cent."

Why won't the Tories offer an independent review / enquiry on the subject ?

UKIP offer me all I want on the above 3 points. I cannot in all conscience vote for a party that doesn't offer me the choice

Rhoda Klapp

What's their position on road tolls?

Verity

Gove's a trougher. He should have been sacked.

Cameron's a pr practitioner. He thinks in terms of gimmicks. Huskies, ice floes, parkas, hoodies, bikes, graffiti, serious poses in the Garden of Remembrance ... His latest gimmick is a pregnant wife. As though anyone gives a monkey's about his family.

glenlivetguy

Brilliant Fraser ....spot on.....hope every reader sends this to every contact in their address book.

David

Well ,well.
Now that the private sector generated recession very nearly destroyed the entire Western Economic Model lets have a Conservative Government to finish it off! Strange intellectually castrated thinking from Fraser Nelson. I voted Tory in 2005. Never again. Neither will I buy this rag again.

Dave Lowry

A really insightful article. In all seriousness, would you consider doing something similar for LAB, LIB and UKIP?

Peter From Maidstone

If he does form the next government, we shall hold him to account even more ferociously that we did Brown: we expect more from those whom we respect.

So you agree then that you have singularly failed to do your job as a supposedly conservative publication and have been giving the Labour party a free ride, even supporting their agenda. What you should be doing is being critical of all left-wing agendas wherever they are found.

It is very noticeable that you ignore immigration as usual, and once more insist that there is nothing we can do about Europe.

Zoo keeper (Elephant House)

Welcome back Shorty !!
It's been dull here without you.

Peter From Maidstone

David, (is that your real name?), I can only assume that you have been mistakenly buying the Spectator thinking it is the New Statesman. That has been an easy mistake to make of late. But in fact this is a conservative publication and therefore it will be likely to show some support for conservative views and policies. If you truly find this disturbing then it is probably best that you take your pretend conservatism elsewhere.

lloydj

One of the first priorities must be electoral reform. This should be a pre-emptive move against STV. It should be done under the guise of reducing the size of government. Make all constituencies at least 75000 strong and thereby eliminate the absurdity of small Scottish, Welsh and northern English seats.The largest number of seats won should match the largest vote share.

JONNY

UKIP may offer you all you seek
Neil Turner
on the 3 fundamental issues you refer to.
But since it is very unlikely indeed to capture more than 1 seat (if that)
Practically speaking it won't
give you anything.

denis cooper

Neil Turner @ 2:19pm -

The Tories could offer an independent review on the question of climate change, but if it came up with the "wrong" answer Cameron would then have to decide whether to defy the EU.

Article 191 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union states:

"Union policy on the environment shall contribute to pursuit of the following objectives ... promoting measures at international level to deal with regional or worldwide environmental problems, and in particular combating climate change."

The last phrase was introduced by the Lisbon Treaty, which came into force on December 1st.

No coincidence that when he announced his capitulation on the Lisbon Treaty on November 4th, Cameron went on to echo the phraseology of that same treaty, saying that:

"European countries need to work together to combat global climate change".

In fact such high priority is being given to this objective that the European Commission has just created a separate “Directorate General for Climate Action”.

To a large extent, the UK's Department for Energy and Climate Change can be seen as one of its local branches.

Its website claims:

“Climate change is already happening and represents one of the greatest environmental, social and economic threats facing the planet.”.

Plus:

“The European Union is working actively for a global agreement to control climate change and is taking domestic action to achieve substantial reductions in its own contribution.”.

As the EU’s “domestic” action mainly consists of a stream of new EU laws - all binding on the UK, but passed by majority voting when the UK has only a small fraction of the votes - it would be pointless and damaging for the Tories to discover that the theory was wrong unless they then were prepared to disapply the EU laws.

labradorman

What in the world is a "family leader"? Is anyone reading, let alone proof reading this twaddle?!

realist

The Tories really need to kill the climate change fraud and reverse/scrap _every_ "green tax" especially those on transport. This is the Achilles heel of the Tories.

Richard of York

Tried long and hard but can't think of one reason to vote Tory.
Now if I was a millionaire private business chief then I could think of hundreds.

Tiberius

A very good piece indeed, Fraser, acknowledging the urgency of ditching NuLab and giving Cameron his well-deserved chance.

He is not a Heath, and will not be a disappointment.

Ron Todd

Summer

I do not disagree with you on the reasons fox hunting was banned.

I think that a majority of people would be against fox hunting which by your argument puts it on the same level as be kicking my dog.

I would debate the necessity of it. If it was necessary why is it done it such an inefficiant way?

As for the religious killing of animals what makes you think that I would justify that?

Verity

I think that any politician has to be a bit of a PR man. Though I would have prefered David Davis

Grove was saying what many people think.

Verity

"8. Europe. Now that the hated EU referendum has been passed in defiance of British public opinion, there is not much we can do to reverse it."

What???

We've been betrayed by traitors and our counry sold down the river and the citizenry denied a vote on the future of our country and there's not much we can do about it? How supine is that?

I can think of quite a few things, including bringing the military home and putting them on the streets of Britain.

Luke

1) His sums don't add up.
2) The policies are the same as they always were apart from the gimmicks and aren't relevant nowadays.
3) He sounds like a damn televangelist, imagine him as prime minister - today we are conquering the Taleban with hope and joy!
3 reasons not to vote just off the top of my head. I know we are all waiting for a pro-capital government, but this is NOT what we have been waiting for, rallying behind him is foolish, you should be embarassed Nelson.

roob_the_doob

'...hospitals compete for patients, schools compete for pupils, welfare provider compete for results in getting people out of welfare and into work." This is the Cameron mission, and it is nothing short of revolutionary.'

Revolutionary? Back to the 90s more like. Been there, done that, seen how it fails. Badly. The more Cameron ("what a lightweight" - Barack Obama) has to reveal what he will do in government, the more he is exposed as a charlatan, peddling reheated right-wing nonsense. Let's hope there's time for the electorate to wise up before it is too late.

Neil Turner

Jonny 3.12

You're right. But if the Tories think that may traditional "Conservatives" are going over to UKIP, maybe they wil rethink their policy ? I don't hold out much hope for this, and will vote UKIP

Dennis Cooper 3.13

That's why I insist on the vote "in or out". It strikes me that the EU has taken (or been given) so much of the UK's power, there is hardly any point at all in having an election

As my fellow bloggees (?) point out, the Tories can do nothing for the people of Peterborough whilst we remain in the EU

Anon

Perhaps you should proof read your article for grammar mistakes if you want people to take you seriously.

Hysteria

what Summer said

Ben Stevenson

Michael said:
"The liberty agenda... unless it crosses paths with his social liberalism."

Quite right. David Cameron seems to believe the state should decide who B&B owners are allowed to do business (or not) with. Business owners would not be able to act in accordance with their personal beliefs.

Conservative politicians also have publicly expressed support for hate speech legislation (search the Play Political website for Richard Barnes for example).

The Conservative Party believes in liberty, except freedom of speech and freedom of association. Social liberalism is consdiered more important than that.

denis cooper

Verity @ 3:48pm -

"We've been betrayed by traitors and our counry sold down the river and the citizenry denied a vote on the future of our country and there's not much we can do about it? How supine is that?"

Precisely. At other times Frazer could have written:

"The Falklands. Now that the Argentinians have completed their occupation of the islands, there is not much we can do to reverse it."

"Kuwait. Now that Saddam has invaded and taken control of Kuwait, there is not much we can do to reverse it."

We don't even have to physically fight to reverse the European Union (Amendment) Act 2008; we just have to elect MPs with enough commitment to our national sovereignty and democracy, and enough guts, to pass an Act of repeal - a Lisbon Treaty (Disapplication) Act.

Which could have a final section requiring approval in a national referendum before it came into force; or, if the Lords held it up and had to be over-ruled through the Parliament Acts, the Act could come into force immediately on Royal Assent and would only cease to be in force if it was rejected in a referendum.

I've no doubt that if Cameron had been Prime Minister at the relevant times he would have rolled over and ceded the Falklands to Argentina, and he would have allowed Saddam's invasion of Kuwait to stand.

The Lisbon Treaty has been implanted in our constitution, even though by the Tories' own account it has no democratic legitimacy; nevertheless Cameron would allow that affront to our democracy to stand; how can a man who would so easily, and unnecessarily, surrender our national interests possibly be fit to become Prime Minister?

John Liddle

I'm a sixty 3 year old ex serviceman.

I would love the thought of the ten points and many more besides coming to fruition.

Under Blair and Brown, Labour have almost destroyed this country with their ill thought out policies, cultural engineering and hopless marx's ideals. The f-----g scumbags.

They should be bloody jailed.

Neil Turner

Dennis Cooper 6.18

You get my vote Dennis. Well said

Steve Rogers

Dennis Cooper 6.18

By the same token, Gordon Brown is certainly not fit to stay Prime Minister.

djw2009

1. School reform - Fraser, drop this guff. He is only talking about a small number of schools. The national curriculum remain in place. The requirement to deliver political propaganda on multiculturalism to the children remains in place - this is the real "bullying" going on in the schools. The requirement to sexualise children from a young age remains in place - I call it "child abuse". The Tories have not said they will abolish the GCSE and introduce an exam based 100% on exam performance, with no coursework element. They have not promised to make foreign languages compulsory. Some parents will open some schools, but in the absence of a wider discussion about what constitutes good education, they are unlikely to alight on the correct formula - schools like Eton have generations of excellence in education, an institutional knowledge of how to do it - a group of parents do not. Gove's education proposals are a nullity.

2. "Letting bureaucracies grow into industries". What part of "cut the state" don't you get, Fraser? The state should withdraw from whole areas, not allow the producer interest even freer rein in the state sector. The result of allowing state bodies to compete for customers is likely to be even higher state-sector salaries on the back of state expenditure. Market provision must be on the basis of private-sector spending, not public-sector spending - people should spend THEIR own money on the services they want. This is just a way of keeping the quangocracy in business - ripping us all off through the taxes.

3. Growth agenda: don't hold your breath over a 20% corporation tax. It's not coming any time soon. Corporation tax may go down to 25%, but don't forget Fraser that all taxation is ultimately financed by the private sector. Rejigging the distribution of taxation among the different taxes is not as good as reducing the overall tax burden as a percentage of GDP. VAT and income tax rises ultimately impact on the private sector too. Don't talk about cutting this or that tax. Talk about reducing the overall burden.

4. Dynamic tax scoring - true, this integrates a prediction of how taxation will affect behaviour into taxation plans. But the real problem is not dynamic vs. static tax scoring, but the overall burden of the state, which is more than 50% of GDP. This point is therefore meaningless - Cameron will keep the large state.

5. It is a bold prediction that the Tories will "cure" welfare dependency. People have been talking for years about closing the poverty trap. The welfare system needs to wound down. Zero immigration, the abolition of the minimum wage, the complete closure of the benefits system to new entrants once rapid job creation is resumed, forcing long-term benefits scroungers to either find work or be assigned demeaning jobs scrubbing public pavements - these are the sorts of things we should be doing. Wittering on about closing the poverty trap is a cypher of a policy.

6. Family reform - Cameron incorrectly defines a couple of lesbians living together as a "family". Family reform doesn't mean anything in this context. You would need to close all benefits to single mothers and stop them from getting flats, and criminalise sex education in schools - Cameron will do none of this. Hence his family reform is utterly mendacious.

7. The liberty agenda - first of all Cameron has not promised to reverse the hunting ban, he has merely "made noises". Will he close down the commissions for racial equality and the like in order to restore freedom of speech? Will he promised to significantly reduce state spending as a proportion of GDP? No. so what is the liberty you are on about Fraser? The great society initiative sounds like a cross between the Hitler Youth and the Scouts - it is deeply illiberal, and in fact aims to "annex" the small platoons of society to state bodies. Put simply, Cameron wants to abolish civil society.

8. Europe - Cameron's EU policy is mendacious. Everything has already been given away under the self-amending treaty-cum-constitution. For XXXX's sake, Fraser, the EU already writes 80% of our laws, so what is this business of "no more integration" - we have already lost our sovereignty totally. Cameron is instinctively pro-EU, but hoped to con the sceptics by withdrawing from a party grouping in the EU Parliament - but in the end it doesn't make any difference what party grouping Tory MEPs sit in - Cameron knows he was making a concession on a nugatory point.

9. The unions - they are much weaker than they were in the 1970s and unlikely to make as much trouble as back then, whether under Labour or the Tories. More importantly, Cameron doesn't propose to abolish public-sector pensions or slash public-sector pay (he has made mendacious noises about the top 300 civil servants only) or to severely slash the numbers of parasites in the public sector. So he is not challenging the unions head-on in the way that needs to be done.

10. Cameron's character. The man is a traitor (see Europe, immigration and multiculturalism) and a master of deceit (see Europe). His "versatility" is just opportunism. Think Blair.

Fraser, all of Cameron's policies are within the Labour penumbra. In fact all three parties are social-democratic in hue. Your article calling for us to vote for Cameron was a disgrace.

Marcher Baron

Ron Todd, you may not believe it was class warfare, but the Labour (now ex-)MP for Wrekin admitted that the Hunting Act was all about getting back at the toffs. He should know. It certainly isn't about welfare since foxes are shot and wounded now. 700 hours were wasted on producing a dogs' breakfast of an Act that is totally unworkable.

Ron Todd

Marcher Baron

What I think I said was that I did believe that it was class warfare.
To be simple

1. It was class warfare
2. Fox hunting is a cruel and inefficient way to kill foxes. Animal killing animal is rarely quick or painless .
3. People do it for fun
4. the ban has been a failure
5. If it were yobs on motorbikes chasing urban foxes the Tories would have been outraged and banned it years ago.

6. At least I use my real name

Tim Carpenter LPUK

Err...

1. I have commented ad infinitum on how Gove's plan just moves the authoritarian deckchairs about. The Fabian iceberg has still sliced a massive hole through the system. FAIL

2. The State needs to withdraw from whole areas and shrink where it does not, not "outsource" its monopoly to private companies. An event horizon for corruption. FAIL

3. Yes, but nowhere near far enough. Red tape, "eco-taxes", "equality" and the massive state sector are also a drag and not being faced up to. Partial FAIL.

4. Am surprised this is needed to state the obvious.

5. Good luck. I do know that welfare is very tricky and the inertia is immense. One cannot just "flick a switch", but then again being kind can also mean being cruel in the long term.

6. I don't want a Government that is "pro family", just not "anti-family" or anti- anyone, in fact. Get out of people's lives and stop that wretched nudging. FAIL

7. You are joking, right? Voting in the digital bill, DNA databases, nudging etc etc. FAIL

8. Another joke, yes? The Tories have monumentally failed in this area. It was a time for them to grow a spine and declare a referendum. If, so the argument is sometimes put, it is "too late", then that is all the more reason to have one and get out.

If the door is not open, then it is a prison.

Massive FAIL.

9. Correct.

10. Cameron has shown he is an ideological-free zone. This is not to say he needs to be a slave to ideology, but to have at least a framework, a functioning compass so we know where he is headed. No, his is demagentised just as much as Blair, Brown, Clegg and Sir Vince.

He is selling to us so he can secure a 5-year contract with a break clause only on his side. He wants to win, but it seems it is at any and always our cost.

karen

However the Conservatives have demonstrably lied to us in the past and just as badly and baldly as Labour have.

There is no reason to suppose this will change if they win the election.

I am not suggesting for one second that people should vote Labour, but why are the Conservatives suddenly so deserving of our approval ?

Have we forgotten their past record ?

Why is there no "The case for voting Liberal Democrat" article ?

or indeed any other party ?

In the 2005 election Lib Dem got 22% of the total number of voters Lab got 35.2% and Con got 32.4% (source - http://www.ukpolitical.info/2005.htm) and 38.6% of the total electorate did not vote (source - http://www.ukpolitical.info/Turnout45.htm) which is comfortably more than any party managed to achieve.

This makes the percentages of votes each party achieved even smaller when you see that it's only a percentage of those who voted and not the total electorate

It wouldn't have taken a huge swing to put Lib Dem in the lead, and I think that would be even less of a swing now, with the electorates current level of dissatisfaction

Despite the reddish blue team and bluish red team telling us it's a two horse race and no one else stands a chance.

If those who did not vote had all voted for a single party then any party could have won the last election, as they could in this one.

So where is the "The case for voting Liberal Democrat" article? or the case for voting for any other party article ?

ken bull

Wow, what embarrassingly fawning and badly-argued tabloid tosh this is. No mention made of alternative philosophies and policies, therefore no refutation of them. The world seen through the narrow eyes of a gushing tory loyalist. No recognition that things might not be so simple as you make out. Particularly for those in society who are consistently left behind. This is enough to make the intelligent and well-rounded tory more than a little ashamed.

Worst of all, the last refuge of the editor desperate to fill column inches; the list of ten best.