Daphne's General Election Dilemma (or "It's Déjà Vu All Over Again")

Another 'which way to vote?' conversation between two old friends, Daphne Randall from the 4mph Thrillers and Welfare Rights Lit's Hilary Carrington.  In case you're new to this blog, their previous discussion is here.

    'Hi Hils!'

    'Daphne!  How lovely to hear you!  Are you well?'

    'Never better, pet.'

    'And Harry?'

    'No worse than usual.  We're out at the Brit for the match tomorrow, then off to Coventry and the Ashby Canal for a week.'

    'I'm really rather envious.  I could do with a break myself.  It's all go at the Project.  We're still, trying to get to grips with this new fully digital Universal Credit system.  Our work is more IT helpdesk than welfare rights at the moment and, as you might imagine, the Community Café - especially the foodbank - is dreadfully busy.'

    'We're spared that until next spring, thankfully - and maybe longer, if the bookies have called it wrong with the Election!'

    'Wouldn't that be a relief!  I have to say, I'm surprised Harry's able to take a holiday just now - I would have thought he'd be hard at it, with an election to cover.'

    'He's hard at it, alright - his garden hasn't looked so tidy in years and, with it wet today, he's even started decorating his spare room.'

    'However does he have the time for that?'

    'He's resigned, pet.'

    'Resigned!'

    'Aye.  On local election day, the Gazette carried a Tory election flyer as a four-page wrap.  Our Harry's not always on our wavelength, Hils, but he prides himself of taking an even-handed and independent line, so he told his editor this tacky ad had cheapened the paper and undermined his neutrality and integrity.  He came home in a blaze of righteous indignation, had a whisky, took his shears to the brambles out the back, went through them like napalm then borrowed a rotavator of the old lad next door and churned up the lawn.  It scared the daylights out of the dog!  He's got it all laid out as flower beds and a kitchen garden now and, when it gets dark, he's either catching up on Gardener's World on the iPlayer or Googling "Constructive Dismissal", unless I take him round to the pub.'

    'He must almost be old enough to retire, though?'

    'Only a couple of years off, pet.  He hoped to keep working a while yet.  He's not got much saved up, after his divorces and such like and I cannot keep him on my wage.  He'll have to get a job of some sort.  He was joking about putting up for Council last night.'

    'That's ironic, considering how you two met!  He's certainly got the political knowledge but which party would he support?  You're always pulling his leg about him being a Tory - he isn't really, is he?'

    'After this business, I'd say not.  He was even cheering Jeremy Corbyn on Channel 4 last night, though that was when he said he'd keep his allotment if he became PM, rather than for anything he said on defence.  I cannot see him joining the local Labour team, mind.'

    'Out of loyalty to you?'

    'Partly that.  Partly because he cannot forgive them wasting so much money on those new offices.'

    'I rather liked the multi-coloured one!'

    'That's easy to say, Hils, when it's not your public services being cut to pay for it!'

    'Fair point, Daph.  Poor old Harry, though!  He must be missing the buzz around the General Election.  I see a couple of your local seats are officially marginal and at risk of going Conservative this time around, if UKIP votes go their way.  I always assumed yours were all safe Labour.'

    'Far from it, pet.  There's a rogue right wing up here that does all kinds of strange stuff and the left is no more predictable.  I'm not even sure how I'm voting myself.'

    'Really?  I would have thought that, nationally anyway, Labour had done quite a lot to win you back.  If the leaked manifesto is anything to go by, they'll pick up any of my colleagues' votes not better used tactically.  Finally, some proper pledges on reversing more of the benefit cuts than just the Bedroom Tax!  Whatever is stopping you this time?'

    'Well, you know how the BBC cannot seem to hit town anywhere without finding some old lad or lass to say they've always voted Labour before but cannot vote for Corbyn?'

    'Indeed!'

    'I'm the equal and opposite reaction to that.  I've been reluctant to vote Labour - except as a lesser evil - but now, under Corbyn, it's finally looking like a genuine force for good again.'

    'I do agreed, Daphne.  And I am starting to get really rather suspicious of those interviews.  I wonder whether they show people saying that more to encourage others to think it than because it's so prevalent.  They never ask what exactly these people don't like, or which actually policies they disapprove of.  And they interviewed a couple in York who carried on about working during power cuts in the nineteen-seventies but looked younger than us - and we were still at school then!'

    'Plenty of voluntary sector organisations are afraid to speak out and tell the truth for fear of losing funding.  Is it any wonder if the BBC is the same?'

    'If you feel that way, Daph, what's the problem with voting Labour?  Is it Brexit?  We were both awfully upset with the Referendum result and I would love to be able to vote again, when people can see what a mess it really all is and that they haven't got extra money for the NHS, just fewer doctors and nurses - but at least Labour seem keen to keep us in the Single Market, like Norway.'

    'It should be an easier call this year but my worry is that I'll vote for the local Labour lad, he'll get in - but nationally, Labour won't - then he and the other so-called "moderates" will go off to form a new version of the old SDP, blaming Corbs for the collapse of the party and taking no responsibility for creating the split narrative the media have been running throughout the campaign.  It won't be the 1970s all over again, it'll be the 1980s!  I'm not even sure they'll stand by their leader if, by a miracle, Labour wins.  What if they still form their own party, or vote with the Tories to keep benefits low or the railways in private hands, or for a "no deal" Brexit because it's the will of the people?  I'm not sure I can trust them not to.  I'm still feeling the only way I can demonstrate what I really believe is to vote Green.'

    'Which is fair enough, unless your Labour-lite candidate's position is so precarious he gets defeated by a Tory.  You fear your Labour candidate might renege on these promises or even quit the party, but you know a that Conservative MP would oppose everything you hold dear.  I think you have to chance it.  Blairite or Thatcherite isn't a happy choice but it looks like the only safe one.  Mind you, I'll probably be holding my nose and voting LibDem.'

    'Just as long as we get a second Referendum and not a second coalition, Hils.'

    'They did promise not to.'

    'They're politicians, pet.'