Archive for Conservative Home

Tory candidate in “hard working families” gaffe

February 28, 2010 · Filed under Brighton, Charlotte Vere, Conservative Home

Charlotte Vere, the Tory PPC for Brighton Pavilion, wrote a recent post for Conservative Home, which she has cross-posted on her website. Whilst the post is mostly nonsense, it also shows how dangerously out of touch Ms. Vere is. In the post she said:

The constituency is very diverse. It ranges from bohemian and fairly liberal areas in the centre to hard working families on the outskirts of the city.

“Hard working families on the outskirts”!? Are there no hard-working families in St. Peters and North Laine, Hanover and Elm Grove, Regency or Preston Park? Has Charlotte ever actually visited these parts of the constituency? If she did, I’m pretty sure she would see that Preston Park has one of the highest concentrations of young families in the constituency. She would also have seen that Hanover and Elm Grove has plenty of young, hard-working families, whose lifestyle is far from “bohemian.”

Charlotte’s lack of knowledge about the demographics of the constituency, and her clear disregard to constituents living in the centre of Brighton, has revealed a Tory strategy of playing to the core vote. Charlotte Vere isn’t interested in reaching out to voters in Preston Park or Hanover and Elm Grove, if she was, she certainly would know more about the people living in those wards, and would know there are plenty of “hard working families” living in the centre of Brighton. This is one of many gaffes coming from Charlotte Vere.

At a recent meeting with students from the University of Sussex, Ms. Vere failed to answer many of the questions, simply brushing them off and saying, “I’ll get back to you.” She also dismissed the student vote as “socialist” in a recent interview with The Daily Politics – further reinforcing the image of an out of touch Tory candidate who knows very little about the constituency they’re fighting in.

Charlotte’s continued gaffes are further undermining her credibility as a candidate, as well as losing respect amongst those who initially welcomed her candidacy as a break with the past – it seems as though she has reverted to the norm, and is chasing the core Tory vote in the ‘outskirts’ of the constituency.

If Charlotte continues along her present trajectory she may find herself stalling, failing to advance, and confined to the ‘outskirts’ of, not only the constituency but, Conservative politics nationally.

In short, she’s doing herself no favours.

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George Osborne: Best mates with big business

February 11, 2010 · Filed under Conservative, Conservative Home, George Osborne

According to Tim Montgomerie on Conservative Home, one of the reasons why we should vote Conservative with “enthusiasm and confidence” is thetax break the Tories are prepared to give to big business.

Tim says:

George Osborne will use his first budget to cut the headline rates of corporation tax by abolishing allowances…he wants to cut corporation tax budget after budget.

At first, I assumed this was a joke conjured up by some stooge at Labour HQ. It wasn’t until I went to Google, typed in Conservative Home, went straight to the site and realised that it was not.

Tim even goes on to say this:

Also on the economy Ken Clarke will chair a deregulatory star chamber that will ensure more regulations are eliminated than new regulations enacted.

Is George Osborne (or perhaps only Tim Montgomerie) out of his mind? Does he really expect people to swallow this?

How can a Conservative Government with any kind of heart or compassion tell public workers to screw themselves whilst giving big business an easy tax break? It’s not fair, simple as.

Tax breaks for big business is why the Tories will never, ever be able to lay claim to a fairness agenda.

If this is either Tim Montgomerie’s or George Osborne’s idea of a joke, it’s not funny for anyone.

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