The day of boosting Theresa May’s ego is nearly upon us, i.e. the General Election. Some of the parties have done very well and come out all guns blazing, this is frighteningly accurate for some, in the case of Fuhrer 2..0 Nigel Farage who has said he will take up arms and get a rifle if the UK doesn’t end up leaving the EU. Other parties though haven’t been so brash though. The messages and images that the parties have chosen are also more different than has been seen in British politics for a long time.
For a quick summary, we have the Conservatives coming out as the party of ‘Strength and Stability’, using the phrase ‘Strong and Stable’ beyond count. Labour have chosen to present themselves as the party ‘For the many, not the few’. The Lib Dems… I’m not actually sure, to be honest, Tim Farron is kind of like that little guy at the back of the room trying to get a question in at a press conference and his party reflects that. Personally, I’ve not really been paying much attention to the SNP and Nicola Sturgeon as I don’t live in Scotland and have no chance to vote for them so I don’t bother paying attention. I imagine she bangs on about Scotland is the best thing in the world and she wants to detach Scotland from the island of Great Britain and float off into the North Sea somewhere.
In the past, I have had great contempt for the Tory party (we call Conservatives the Tory party and call them Tories as there was a party in the 19th Century called the Tory party and they were very posh and not nice people) and everything they stand for and I always will. But this election and under Theresa May that contempt has grown significantly, more than I thought it would.
Let’s start with Theresa May because it’s funny. She has conducted herself as Prime Minister in a way that I think has surprised people. This is because when she was Home Secretary she wasn’t very charismatic, wasn’t particularly impressive and kept herself to herself. Her nickname was even ‘The Submarine’. And it wasn’t because she goes down on you but because she always slithered away below the water during difficult times.
But as Prime Minister, she’s out all guns blazing, “We are leaving the EU”, “Give me the strongest hand for negotiations”, “We’re strong and stable” are just a few of her go-to catchphrases. She’s also obsessed with becoming more and more powerful. She started this election talking not about policy, but about how a large majority in Parliament can give her the “Strongest hand possible going into Brexit negotiations”. It was a complete ego-fest, it was all about her, there was no policy to be seen anywhere. All of the party campaign posters at the events she took part had her name plastered all over them.
In a campaign leaflet, I got through the post from the Conservatives, it didn’t actually mention anything about the Conservative Party. It focused on Theresa May and voting for her. The way the material presents itself is as if Theresa May was running in a Presidential Election.
This self-centeredness is hard to digest, especially when you passionately disagree with 99% of their campaign message. She’s gone from being a submarine to a rash that you can’t get rid of
Luckily there is a cream available to get rid of this rash, and it is the Labour Party and its leader Jeremy Corbyn. As briefly said earlier, Labour has approached this election by making their campaign all about changing Britain so that it works for the many and not the few. Much is made of how the Tories have given billions of pounds worth of tax breaks to their corporate friends and the hard-working people on middle and lower incomes have suffered greatly and it is now the time for that to change. From the outset, Jeremy Corbyn was out presenting Labour’s message, not a personal one like Theresa May. He was consistently saying “Labour’s policy” and made very little mention of a vote for Labour is solely about him becoming Prime Minister.
Furthermore, unlike the Tories, Labour had a new policy after new policy coming out from the very beginning of the campaign. Labour had already announced policies on health, education, social security before their full manifesto was realised. This is in contrast to the Tories where their only policies seemed to be about Brexit negotiations and how to make Theresa a female Il Dulce.
Turning to the policies being put to the British people and we see a greater contrast between Labour and Tories that hasn’t been seen since the 1980s, I personally welcome this change. Labour has turned back to its proper routes and traditional message of it is the party of the workers and the party of standing up to big abusive business. Labour have proposed new higher tax rates for people who earn over 80k a year, for everyone else they will stay the same, a higher rate of corporation tax, a robin hood tax on financial transactions, crackdown on tax avoidance, the abolition of tuition fees, reinstating the nurse’s bursary, guaranteeing the triple lock on pensions, extending housing benefit to 18-21 year olds, nationalising the railways, water, Royal Mail and a large portion of the energy companies.
Now the Tories in contrast are seeking to abolish free school meals for primary school children, alter the system of people paying for social care so that they end up paying more towards their care, giving a tax break to large corporations, scrapping the triple lock on pensions, promising marginal increases in spending on education and health, means test winter-fuel allowance, abolishing the ban on grammar schools, altering the rules on the introduction of new Roman Catholic schools, eventually repeal or replace the Human Rights Act, the list goes on.
It isn’t hard to see the stark contrast between the two parties and where their interests lay. Labour’s message at this election is classic left-wing material focusing on fairness, equality and working in the interests of everyone, not a select few. The Tories’ message is that of typical harsh right-wing drivel; working in the interest of a select few, not caring for the typical worker or pensioner and certainly not having much care for children either.
Simply looking at the interest and priorities of the two parties shows to you the difference in Left-wing politics and Right wing politics. One way that demonstrates the difference between the two is the comedy.
Take a look at comedians and the material they use when mocking politicians and their policies/beliefs. Not just here and the UK but in the US as well; you don’t see a comedian (a large portion of) mocking a liberal/socialist because they believe in equality, free healthcare and education, a green energy policy or their attitudes to human rights. But you do see them mocking politicians and parties on the Right, as it is those on the Right that come out with the ridiculous statements.
It’s the core beliefs of what those on the Left believe in that make it difficult to mock. How do you mock someone and put them down because they believe that people are equal? The only people that would mock them are racist, xenophobic and bigots. Or any member of UKIP. If you’re reading this and you’re not from the UK and you want to know about UKIP, then a good way to sum them up is that they’re mentally ill but they don’t know they’re mentally ill and they think they know everything. Also, they’re happy to work with different people but you do have to be white. That’s the kind of people and the kind of party they are. To quote a respected Psychology graduate and close friend Chris Fossey they’re “The Tea Party minus the guns”.
It is a result of all of this that I have written this piece, to begin with, but I have also plastered my Facebook page with material about what Labour Party policy is and what the Tories intend to do. Also, a few amusing tidbits are thrown in there as well just for a bit of humor and to lighten the mood.
On a final note and this won’t make a lot of sense to people from outside the UK but I say this. Katie Hopkins once said that if Labour wins the election she will move out of Britain. Isn’t that reason enough to vote Labour?
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