I have written many times about the ways that I believed the Conservative Party should progress, speculated on many internal party affairs and had even been a subscribed member for the last four years. Well not anymore, folks. Last Friday I resigned my Conservative Party membership in order to join the Labour Party. It is my belief that Labour is the only party with the answers to the problems that the country is facing.
For a long time, I had felt disillusioned with what the Conservative Party had become. It is my view that it was led by a liar, protected by people who have no aptitude for public service but instead only serve for personal gain. I stuck in there, thinking that when Boris Johnson left office that we’d elect a leader who could actually stand for honesty and decency and do the right things to get this country back on its feet. After building up all this hope, the party, again, elected a self-serving idealogue to the position of prime minister and the whole country will suffer because of that.
I was prepared to ride it out, yet again. I was prepared to vote Labour at the next election, despite still being a Tory member, just to get Liz Truss and her hard right cabinet out of power. Then came Friday, news had just leaked that in Kwasi Kwarteng’s mini-budget he was planning to scrap banker bonus caps, lower corporation tax and get rid of the social care levy. I realised then I could no longer remain a Conservative with a hard-right government favouring the bankers over people living in abject poverty.
A realisation
Furthermore, when I sat down and actually thought about my views, I realised that I wasn’t even an ideological Conservative anymore. I had been so caught up in the cut and thrust of local and national politics that I didn’t stop and think about what my actual views were, too focused on running for council that I forgot myself. When I actually sat down and thought about it, I realised I was actually pretty left wing. I support renationalising energy and water, raising corporation tax to 30%, raising the top rate of income tax to 47% and imposing a 40% windfall tax on the big oil and gas profits. There is no way on God’s green earth that anyone in the Conservative Party would support this, and rightly so as it is a right-wing party so why would they support left-wing policies?
I’m only young and still on my political journey. I was a Conservative member for four years but now I must do away with the past and look towards the future. The Conservative Party is filled to the brim with far-right, socially Conservative members and MPs who do not care about the country, caring only about creating unnecessary animosity with the EU and attacking the innocent trans community. I believe Labour is the only party able to right these wrongs. Under Labour the country can get back to normal and be governed by people who really care. Hopefully, this article will encourage more people to join the party and get the Tories out of Downing Street.