The Misery Of Being A Liberal Conservative

You may have noticed that I haven’t posted on The Only Tory From Hull much over the last year or two.  I couldn’t even remember how to log in the other day.

My interest in politics has by no means diminished and neither has my passion…the latter has been entrenched.

A lot of that has to do with simply being far too busy.

But I can always make time to write a blog post if I feel passionate enough about something.

The real reason, I feel, comes down to a mixture of confusion and misery.

I shall start with the confusion.

A while back, I announced that I was no longer a Conservative, though unless there was zero chance of a Corbyn government then I would still vote Conservative if an election was around the corner.  There was an election in 2017, and as soon as it became clear that there was a small chance of a Corbyn government, I voted Conservative – and took plenty of abuse on social media for it.

And I fell back into feeling a Conservative.  Somehow.  Though not because I supported that much of the “government” (I use that term lightly) policy.  And I certainly don’t feel any tribal loyalty.  More because of the attacks from the left-wing – those vile Momentum card-carrying Corbynites – which culminated in someone calling me a murderer for voting Tory, after Grenfell.  That people on the far-left could stoop so low, pushed me back into feeling somewhat more of a Conservative – to disassociate as far as possible.

Yet what does the current government stand for other than Brexit means Brexit?

I vociferously do not support Brexit.  Theresa May was useless (and called her out on this long before it was trendy to do so) and I’ve covered how abominable I find Boris Johnson’s government – especially his choice of unelected, powerful bureaucrats.

I disagree with many members of the Conservative Party who seem so ideologically obsessed with Brexit, some of whom are not that far from the vileness of Momentum.  There are few policies I can get behind.  The Brexit wing are in charge and they are ideologically and behaviourally far from what I feel is acceptable – note Nadine Dorries’ hypocritical stance that those voting against the government should be deselected…from a woman who has voted against the government 47 times.

I really do want to support the party of Margaret Thatcher, the party of David Cameron.  But the current and previous government seem so alien from those administrations right now.  It is almost as if the Conservative Party needs a spell in opposition for me to be able to support it once more…and it increasingly does seem to be heading that way.

And then there is the misery.

Not only that there is nobody prominent that represents my social and economic liberalism, at least in English politics.

Rory Stewart was inspiring during the leadership election, but I found him wanting when it comes to economic liberalism.  Many alleged Conservative members that I used to speak to would tell him to fuck off to the Liberal Democrats – as they used to do to me.

Yet the Liberal Democrats are no more than a good place to lend my vote.  I support lower government spending – I believe that we should celebrate the success of austerity in gaining control of our finances.  I want airports, rail and road to be expanded – I want the planning act abolished so people can actually build houses.  Do you hear the Liberal Democrats supporting any of those policies?

I don’t – so I don’t believe that I am a Liberal Democrat.  Then again I hear nothing from them except anti-Brexit – which is very much what I want to hear.

Those who might be economic liberals in the Conservative Party, such as Liz Truss, are either so far up the arse of Brexit or in charge of Project Doom itself.

The illiberal part of the Conservative Party is in charge, and there is no longer even a place for me there.

Despite being a student of Thatcher, the Conservative Party is so far removed from her ideals that I am politically homeless.  I am not the only one – for with the hard left’s capture of the Labour Party, there are many politically homeless people on the soft-left too.

The Conservative Party is not at all what is used to be.  The nutcases have taken over.

No true Conservative Party would rip up all the economic foundations that have ensured we have remained as stable and well-off as we have over recent decades – and replace it with some of the most economically illiterate babbling outside of Corbyn’s kitchen.

This is not the pragmatic pro-business party of Margaret Thatcher and those that followed her.  No-deal Brexit is a nationalist revolution – the opposite definition of to “conserve”.

I’m still a liberal Conservative – but I don’t have a political party to support or belong to now.