MaizieD
^That was actually written by Neal Lawson of "Compass", not a Guardian journalist.^
I think that Lawson makes a number of sweeping statements which perhaps don't stand up to scrutiny.
It would be interesting to explore just why people voted the way they did in the 2010 GE. Which wasn't exactly a conclusive victory for the tories IIRC... If the LDs had gone into coalition with Labour the UK could be a different place now...
If you were to ask my children (born in the 1990s) what they remember about Blair, they'd tell you he was somebody who had mad eyes and always looked haunted on TV. He had to go. Gordon Brown did an amazing job in the aftermath of the 2008 crisis, but he didn't have much media appeal. I think people wanted a change. Cameron was the "new face" of the Conservative Party and seemed like a safe pair of hands. I don't think that, at that stage, many people realised how much damage he would do to the NHS and other public services, nor how much Osborne would destroy the seeds of recovery. Public debt had increased with QE and people believed the narrative that the debt needed to be repaid - hence they accepted austerity. Genuine austerity would have affected everybody, but it didn't. It was used as a cover for cutting benefits and public services, but Conservative voters weren't too bothered about that.