The End of Political Tribalism?

I had a fascinating conversation with a friend at the weekend. He's what I'd describe as a Blue/Green. He's a Natural Tory and an Environmentalist. Over a cup of tea, he explained to me how excited he was to finally get the opportunity to get rid of "Gordon Brown's awful Government". He was most pleased that Cameron certainly seems to be committed to Green issues in a way that no other Tory leader has been. As he's always voted Tory, this didn't surprise me. I then asked, mischeiviously I thought, what about the Council elections? He replied "Well I read your blog. I couldn't possibly vote for Freer or Coleman." He explained that the regeneration schemes will destroy the face of Barnet and they must be stopped at all costs. So I asked "Who will you vote for?" He lives in Barnet and replied "The Lib Dems of course. On a local level they are the only party with any credibility at all". I wasn't that surprised about this. Many local Tories have told me they'll be abandoning Freer's mob, many as a direct result of the Sheltered Warden changes. This is a poisonous policy and I think that the chickens are coming home to roost. The conversation progressed "What about Boris?". He rolled his eyes and said "If he stands, it has to be Ken Livingstone". Now this was a shock (believe me, there are many reasons that this was a shock). I enquired "Boris is useless, completely clueless, he's an embarrassment to London and Great Britain, we can't possibly afford to have him in for the Olympics. Livingstone is the only one who could beat him, at least he has some credibility. Anyone else will be a wasted vote". I had to ask "Euro elections?". He replied "UKIP of course, the rest of them go native when they step off the Eurostar".

I suspect that many people could follow this pattern of voting. I'd certainly not vote for Cameron or UKIP, but I must confess that his comments have given me food for thought. One thing he said certainly struck me as being true "Tribalism should be confined to the Football terraces. We seem to think that changing party is like shifting from being a Gooner to being a Spurs fan, it's not, it's called making a sensible grown up decision". He then said "You yourself said that Cameron should make Vince Cable Chancellor and Frank Field in charge of benefit reform" (I didn't actually say that). He went on to say "If you ask me, that would be the strongest team he could have, but tribalism completely precludes that. How can that possibly be in anyone's interest?".

I asked him who should be the leader of Barnet Council. He jokingly replied "I'd like to see you in charge with Don't Call me Dave as your deputy and the bloke who does Colemansgottogo.blogspot.com as Mayor, at least then Council Tax would go down and that awful newsletter would be vaguely readable". Sadly, the bloggers of Barnet are not a political party, so that's one choice that you won't have on the ballot form. I do suspect that at the next Council Elections, many people will be following our advice and voting for the candidates most likely to reverse such inhuman policies as cutting Sheltered Housing Wardens.