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Sorry, a rare thread here. A couple of weeks ago I met, for the first time, a bona fide ‘Tory in business’. The meeting was both very weird and depressing. This is what happened...
Context: After 20 years in the public sector I set up my own business last March. Timing, eh? Just me as a sole trader. My job is reliant on knocking on doors and convincing people I’m good at what I do. And then getting the gig and proving it...
This guy was recommended as someone to talk to so I arranged a zoom and we had a chat. It started normally enough, an explanation of what I do, why I’m a bit different, a bit about his work. And then it took a very odd turn...
From nowhere, he suddenly began talking about his contacts and money. He reeled off a lot of names of people he knew. And then without hesitation told me that if he introduced me to them I would then pay him for finding me the work...
He wasn’t interested in what I did, how good I was. In minutes it just became a very simple transaction. The industry I work in, by the way, is still in the public sector & this conversation was no longer me knocking on doors and competing, it was being offered work for cash.
He reeled off names that I knew, establishment figures in the sector, one right wing commentator, who he could set me up with. This was the odd thing: IT WAS SO MATTER OF FACT. It became clear that he thought what he was doing was entirely normal and fine.
There was no justification, no explanation. I was simply being invited into the circle. I was genuinely taken aback. I should have called him out on it. I didn’t. The meeting just died away after that. And then I spent some time thinking about it...
You know what, in many ways he seemed like a nice guy. But he seemed completely unaware of the ethical lines he was crossing. And I’ve realised since that this, OF COURSE, is an entrenched social norm amongst Tories.
I’m not talking about Tory voters here. I’m talking about Tories, this group of privileged individuals who’s starting point in life is that of established wealth. I don’t think I’d met one before...
Their life is networking. It’s one big transaction. From a starting point of gained wealth. It’s easy and that’s why they do it. It’s cheap and grubby. They’re Del Boy but without the struggle...
The scary thing though is that this is also their culture of governance. It’s why over 60 MPs have got connections to companies awarded PPE contracts. It’s why they think paying you £500 to stay indoors is workable and simple.
The most frightening thing is they feel they DESERVE this. It’s a result of their ‘hard work’ not their privilege. I genuinely think many of them feel everyone should do the same, not realising that that others actually can’t. It’s the Tebbit ‘on your bike’ philosophy.
I couldn’t afford to pay for a website designer when I started out last year. I asked Twitter. @AubreyMilkshake got back to me, and subsequently spent hours with me helping build it. He wanted nor needed anything from me. Most of us do this sort of thing from time to time, right?
I became a better and more skilled-up business owner because of it. A Tory can’t countenance this. They wouldn’t get anything back. They can’t understand that enough of these small, kind actions builds societies and better standards of living for all.
It’s why they can’t even PROCESS the potential strengths of UBI, why they pick on the poor who are deserving because ‘they don’t work hard enough’. It’s why their government contract system is nakedly corrupt. They think it’s fine.
They make people believe it too. Including many people who have found material success without privilege. I wish these people understood why they are different to Tories, why their achievements are more worthwhile. And to look outwards not inwards.
I think, somewhere in my head, I knew all of this (I’ve never voted Tory) but what happened last week has made me able to better articulate it. We’re being held back, squashed and belittled by them. It’s is within their cultural DNA to be like this. And it won’t change.
