Saturday 3 April 2010

Are you really a Tory?

No you don't have to tell me, but if you want a bit of harmless weekend fun, check this link (of course you are more than welcome to post your results in the comments box)

http://www.votematch.org.uk/

This website asks your views on various policies and tells you which party your views are most compatable with. Just in case you were wondering (and I didn't cheat) it seems I am most compatable with the Lib Dems policies :-

Figures :-
Lib Dems - 74% agree with
Labour - 59% agree with
Conservative - 39% agree with

I wonder how many of you will vote for a party you don't agree most with. (The website was put together by the Daily Telegraph and Goldsmiths college, so it's hopefully fairly honest and straightforward)

Anyway enjoy !

22 comments:

Don't Call Me Dave said...

UKIP 79%
Conservative 49%
Labour 19%

caroline said...

Lib Dem 60%
Green 55%
Conservative 50%
Labour 49%

Very interesting

Don't Call Me Dave said...

I am ashamed that my Labour score was so high!

caroline said...

Lib Dem 60%
Green 55%
Conservative 50%
Labour 49%

Very interesting

Rog T said...

David,

No Lib Dem score? Hope your not hiding something

Caroline

What was that you were saying about me joining the Lib dems?

Don't Call Me Dave said...

Rog

The program asks you to select 3 parties only, hence my list. I ran the test again to include LibDems and it came up with 30% (worryingly high as well!)

I think my UKIP score reflects the concerns of many Conservatives that they feel betrayed over the Lisbon treaty and that the party is not Euro sceptic enough.

Anonymous said...

@DCMD as Caroline shows, and I found out through playing with this, you can select all and any of the parties. Anyone posting their results should select ALL of the parties for this to be a true representation. For what it's worth, trying various answers to the questions (not representing my views), it's surprising how often it throws up high BNP support. Methinks they don't really get the BNPs ultra socialism right.

TimberWolf said...

I found I was 52% Conservative and 51% Liberal Democrat. Understanable as I consider myself a conservative Liberal. But some of the questions were not clear. For example, asked whether you are in favour of the number of MPs being reduced by 10% should you reply 'yes' or 'no' when you are in favour (as the Liberal Democrats are) of reducing the number by one third?
Anyway I'll be voting Liberal Democrat.

Rog T said...

Timberwolf,
I didn't know how to answer the question as I support a big cut. Therefore I ticked the don't know box

Dan,
Come on post your results. I'm sure you're not a Lib Dem, are you?

Anonymous said...

@RogT - I'd publish mine if some of the questions were a bit less silly and they seemed to have fair representation of parties policies !

Statler and Waldorf said...

BMP 92%
Conservative 85%
Labour -4%
Lib Dems N/A



*BMP = Barnet Muppet Party

Rog T said...

Dan,

Given that it's been set up by the Daily Torygraph, you can hardly claim lefty bias. You'll have us all think you've been rumbled as a closet Lib Dem if you don't post your figures :^)

Don't Call Me Dave said...

To Statler & Waldorf

The Barnet Muppet Party have been running the council for many years now. Never had you down as supporters of their regime.

To Rog

Whilst this survey was harmless fun, it didn’t really address the reason why people vote for a particular candidate or party. I have long held the view that most people vote against, rather than for. Some people vote Labour simply to keep out the Tories, others vote Conservative to keep out the Socialists. I am sure many people vote for candidates they don’t particularly like or admire simply because they believe the alternative would be even worse.

If I lived in Bethnal Green, I would have voted for Labour at the last election because Oona King was the only candidate capable of beating the dreadful George Galloway. It doesn’t mean that I support the issues she stands for.

At the forthcoming election, I suspect there will be far more tactical voting than usual. MPs are standing down in record numbers, partly to grab an allowance that will not be available in the future (troughers to the very end) and partly to avoid the humiliation of being thrown out by voters.

It would not surprise me if MPs seeking re-election, who abused the allowances system, found that even their natural supporters deserted them at the ballot box. Honesty and integrity will be more important qualities than party politics.

Rog T said...

David,

Excellent point. I would vote Tory if it was them or the BNP, with no hesitation. This election will be the first time that I won't be voting Labour and that would have been the case even if I hadn't joined the Lib Dems.

It will be rather interesting if UKIP stand in Finchley. I doubt you are the only Conservative in Barnet to take the test and find UKIP top of the list.

Anonymous said...

@RogT -- for me to be a LibDem I'd need to know what they were actually for. I knew what the Liberals were about and what the SDP was about.

It seems to me at the moment that the LibDems think the Conservatives are the greatest evil on the planet in some places and Labour are in other places. One moment they want 'savage' spending cuts, the next moment they are shoulder to shoulder with the Socialist Worker Party and their friends in pacifist anti war demos. And that's before we get onto the British Spokesman for the oil rich arab states, Menzies Campbell and the 'odious' suicide bomber's friend, Jennie Tongue....

So tell me what is the core of the LibDems or are they still a big round dustbin for left-labour-votes?

Rog T said...

Dan,

You are being very reticent about listing how you scored in this "bit of fun" test. I must conclude from this and your comments that there is a nasty surprise lurking in there somewhere which you desperately want to keep quiet about. Normally you are very a very straightforward guy, so we have to be a bit suspicious. I think you've found you are closer to another party than the Tories and you are in denial. I hear that the local Tories have a very good, council funded political officer who can help you back to the path of true blueness.

As to the other points you raise,
I'm rather surprised by your comments. You clearly haven't been keeping up to date with politics lately. What did David Cameron say about how marvellous he thought Lib Dem policies were?

I suggest you have a look at the Lib Dems website if you are interested. I suppose I could print them all here, but as they are already listed there it would be a bit pointless.

Anonymous said...

@RogT - I'm really not. I did find many of the questions silly and found myself not ticking 'yes' or 'no'. I did the test many times with different answers to questions to see how it came out. I don't have a set of scores for me unless I did it again which I'm not that sure I can be arsed to do....

Rog, I know the LibSDPDems have policies, they have lots of those they are just a random collection of bits and bobs populism spiced up with a bit of eccentricism. There just doesn't seem to be a philosophy. Liberalism and Social Democracy are profoundly conflicted. You'd be better off to junk what is left of the SDP and just become proper Liberals. Then we'd know what you were.

What is the philosophy of the LibSDPDems regarding the size and scope of the state? Labour thinks there should be more, all of the time. Conservatives think the state should get out of the way. The LibSDPDems's philosophy is?

I really don't know....

Rog T said...

Dan,
I attended a debate at the Conference on this subject. I don't suppose my answer will totally enlighten you (or surprise you) but the Lib Dems policy is rather than to follow the state good/state bad Lab/Con split, we'd try and have an appropriate sized state. There is much duplication within quangos etc, which could be cut. There is much red tape which could be done away with. Having said that there are areas where the state could and should do more. I'd sum this up as being pragmatic rather than ideological in our approach. There is clearly far too much quango culture. If we go the other way (Future Shape) we risk throwing the baby out with the bath water.

I must say I did a fair bit of reading of George Osbornes proposals to shrink the state and I think he'll be a big let down, if you think he'll roll back the state.

For example we don't support superdatabases, which I believe certain local Tories are rather keen on. I wrote to David Cameron about this and he never replied?

Out of interest do you support superdatabases?

Anonymous said...

@RogT - "'we'd try and have an appropriate sized state" I think my point is made. Nothing more I can add to that meaningless line.

Not sure what you mean by 'superdatabases' but I am happy to support the firm line from the national Conservative Party on this against a DNA database full of innocent people, against the Council snooping on it's voters against ID cards and the database with it.

You'll have to ask the Town Hall folk what they are getting up to. It isn't endorsed by the Conservative Party and nor is the Conservative Group part of the Conservative Party or be controlled by it. It's pretty much a law unto itself in that sense.

TimberWolf said...

Each party is supported by a wide range of people. The Conservative support ranges from neo-nazis to liberals. Labour support ranges from communist to socialist to social democrat. Liberal Democrat support ranges from Liberals to Poujadists to Social Democrats.
It is useful to remember where parties get their financial support from. Trade Unions provide most of the cash for the Labour Party. Big business and extremely wealthy individuals provide most of the cash for the Conservative Party. The poor old Liberal Democrats just don't receive much cash, but at least are beholden to no one.

Anonymous said...

@TImberwolf - not to sure about your analysis. Neo-nazi's and communists really aren't voting Labour or Conservative. They have their own parties, both on the extreme left ie the BNP and Respect etc...

Similarly the LibDems nationally seem to be targeting an eclectic, incoherent bunch. Including, but no limited to:

i) 'Screw the lot of ems"
ii) Hard core islamic 'stop the war' vote ala Brent / Jenny Tongue
iii) We hate the Conservatives locally (where the LibDems do to)
iv) We hate Labour locally (where the LibDems do to)

A hung parliament with Cameron being the Leader of the largest party will be a nightmare for Nick Clegg as the soppy wet Social Democrat crew who run the LibDems now will *never* let him work with the Conservatives. The same happened here in Barnet for 8 years when the LibDems worked with the second largest group for 8 years ignoring the voice of the largest Party in Barnet to work keep Labour in power.

TimberWolf said...

On two neighbouring boroughs to Barnet the small Conservative groups work quite happily with the larger Liberal Democrat groups to control the councils. So Conservatives and Liberal Democrats can work together!
I wish we could return to the situation we had in the northern part of the borough (Barnet, East Barnet, Friern Barnet) before the monster Borough of Barnet was created. The councillors worked together for the benefit of the community, and the best councillors were chosen to be committee chairmen or vice chairmen regardless of party. The same went for council chairmen, so that you could get a Labour council chairman although the majority of the councillors were Conservative. In those days councillors did not claim allowances or even expenses. What a lot has been lost!