Wednesday 28 May 2014

What have the Conservatives ever given us?

Today I had a bit of a Monty Python Life of Brian moment. I was discussing the fate and fortunes of the Conservative Party and my friend, who is shall we say, slightly left leaning said "When it comes down to it, what have the Tories ever done for the ordinary working man in Britain?"

I could resist saying "The Aquaduct", but had to say "well Winston Churchill defeated the Nazi's". To which my friend said "Ok, apart from beating the Nazi's". So I thought and said "Well Ted Heath joined the EEC, which has been winding up most of his party ever since" So my friend said "OK, apart from beating the Nazi's and joining the EEC, what have the Tories ever done for us". So I said "Well Margaret Thatcher, as Education secretary virtually got rid of Grammer schools and then as Prime Minister she signed the Single European act, which allowed lots of hard working Poles and Romanians to come here". To which, my friend, starting to rise to the bait said "Ok apart from beating the Nazis, joining the EEC, abolishing Grammar Schools and signing the Single European act, what did the Tories ever do for us?". So I replied "Thatcher ousted a fairly nasty right wing bunch of Fascist generals in Argentina with the Falklands war, gave Hong Kong back to the Chinese, ending one of our last Imperialist outposts and negotiated the end of the illegal Apartheid Government in Rhodesia" So my friend said "Yes, but what about Londoners". So I reminded him that Horace Cutler created the London Marathon, whilst at the GLC.

So my friend said "look that's all very well, but what about the current bunch of Tories?" So I thought about it for a minute. Then I thought about it for another minute. Then I thought about it for a third minute. Then I thought about it for a fourth minute. Then I wondered "what exactly will David Cameron be remembered for?" And guess what. I came to the conclusion that he probably won't be remembered for anything at all, once the page comes down on his career. Then quite to my surprise, my friend said "you know what? There is one achievement of this current lot, which I think might be remembered fondly by the Left" I thought for another moment "Nope, you've got me". He shot back, beaming all over his face "He's destroyed the Lib Dems!"

So there you go. That's what the Tories have done for us.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Destroyed "unfashionable" Britsh industry in the 1980s, instead of forcing through modernisation?

And we were given financial services instead.

Rog T said...

Dear Anon,

Think you rather missed the point

Anonymous said...

I'm no fan of Cameron but he probably deserves some credit for same sex marriage