The Conservative Party had it all back in 2019. It was served up to them on an electoral plate, an 80-seat majority on the promise they’d seamlessly deliver Brexit.
Traditional Labour voters in red wall seats were happy to lend their vote to the blue rosette because their time-honoured choice at the ballot box, led by Jeremy Corbyn, seemed to be betraying their patriotic love of the Queen and country.
They felt that a promising future under Boris Johnson was now to be one of prosperity, pride, and real sovereignty.
It did not take long to realise though, that those blonde scruffy-haired Tory manifesto pledges, were to end up as pure Enid Blyton fiction.
Howard Cox has slammed both of two main parties
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Here is one example. The Prime Minister promised not to raise income tax, VAT, or National Insurance. That was at the heart of the Conservative Party’s 2019 General Election campaign.
Boris Johnson espoused that his plans would mean “low tax for people… working people” and insisted it would remain in place for five years.
But in April 2022 he ripped that up, raising National Insurance by 1.6 points – the equivalent of a 10 per cent rise overall.
Since then, we have seen more and more manifesto promises ignored, and many policies not even mentioned in their election manifesto being introduced without any public consultation.
And so, the nation’s decline in self-esteem has grown almost exponentially. Yes, through an unpredicted pandemic, and indeed a very unfortunate period dominated by poor medical advice and bungling political management.
The conventional Tory image of strong financial management, a smaller state, and controlling our borders has now been smashed into oblivion.
You really could not make this up. Since 2019 we have been governed by backstabbing politicians and cronyism - the appointment of friends and associates to positions of authority - without proper regard to their qualifications or ability.
The use of inept careerist special advisors, and dishonest self-interested ministers that have driven any chance of economic growth, and national pride into the gutter.
What worries me most, however, is the palpable advance in dishonesty that is flowing through Whitehall.
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Howard Cox was a lifelong Tory voter but claimed he wouldn't ever vote for them again unless they made significant changes
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There is one clear pattern too. Since 2010, five Tory Prime Ministers have shown their inability to listen to the people once they get possession of the keys to Number 10.
Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak did show some fiscal gut, to ensure businesses and families remained afloat during the pandemic.
But Rishi’s needlessly too high-spending solution to avoid a national, financial and social catastrophe has now become the new norm. There are too many working from home and not wanting to work at all.
Money seems to be available at the drop of a hat, but not targeted at incentivising consumer spending. Instead, it’s wasted on those ambassadors of wokery who shout the loudest.
One good move that did take place in the last Cabinet reshuffle was the promotion of Esther McVey to the Minister of Common Sense.
14 years of Tory failure and economic mismanagement have seen taxes at a 70-year high.
And to show how out of touch with reality this Government truly is: the Chancellor opened his Budget statement last week by announcing the allocation of £1million towards a war memorial honouring Muslim soldiers who died in the First and Second World Wars.
Hardly the first Budget priority in a cost-of-living crisis, and why so expensive? The Winston Churchill Memorial cost just £30,000.
Howard Cox believes that it will be even worse under a Labour government
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Jeremy Hunt’s statement was pure political opportunism, wanting to appease a minority sector of highly vocal angry UK-based Islamists. An issue that dominates MPs disproportionately, way too much.
In the meantime, our defence spending remains way too low to help us counter the current unstable state of security across the globe.
There is, of course, the escalating cost of housing the huge influx of immigrants, the HS2 exorbitant wastage debacle, and the trillion-pound drive to meet a Net Zero fantasy target.
All of these and so much more chronic Tory incompetence means Mrs Graham in Stoke-on-Trent North will feel more than betrayed, she has been conned. Her vote was truly wasted.
It’s often said that the Conservative Party’s greatest strength is the ability to reinvent itself. But this is a party that is truly in terminal decline.
I have voted Conservative for 50 years, but never again, unless they start to show Thatcher-like leadership, tax-cutting sense, real cajónes and above all, start telling the truth.
But then there is of course the fluky Labour Party awaiting dumbstruck in the wings, to be crowned as the nation’s alleged political saviours.
Don’t believe it! It will be even worse under the other political buttock cheek of inept governance.