Just got a leaflet from my Labour MP thanking me for her reelection

[Greeby]

Just one problem: I voted for the Lib Dem candidate, and looking at this voting record overview, I'm glad I did. This woman is a total Blairbot.

http://www.theyworkforyou.com/mp/phyllis_starkey/milton_keynes_south_west

I only voted for the Lib Dem candidate after I emailed him Seymour Hersh's The Coming Wars, and Scott Ritter's interview on Randi Rhodes. And he made crystal clear they would not support the invasion of Iran.

The guy only got 16%, the people in our town have some fucked-up priorities :cry:

[tjwmason]

1. Didn't one of the M.K. seats go Tory this time?

n/t

[Greeby]

2. Aye

This guy

http://www.theyworkforyou.com/mp/mark_lancaster/north_east_milton_keynes

Funny though, I was in that area during the campaign for a job interview. I saw a hell of a lot of Lib Dem yard signs, and all the Tory had was the paid advertising by the side of the main road

[tjwmason]

3. Folk seem to be less likely to put up Tory signs

I'm in one of the most solidly Tory seats in the entire country, but I barely saw a single poster in garden.

I think that there are two reasons - first, around here especially being Tory is pretty tribal - they don't vote Conservative because they like a particular set of policies, or a candidate, they have just always been that way. This makes them far less likely to do anything active.

Secondly, there is still the whole 'nasty party' thing. Whilst in the privacy of a voting booth lots of people will put their cross in that box - they won't be so keen for their friends and neighbours to see it.

[T_i_B]

4. As a general rule...

...the more affluent and rural a place is, the more likely you are to come across Tory signs. In Chelmsford you see quite a few Lib Dem signs about at election time and very few if any Conservative ones (although it's the Tories who get elected more often then not). However, when you get out into the countryside you find that quite a few farmers like to put up big "VOTE CONSERVATIVE" placards by the side of roads and so on.

[Anarcho-Socialist]

6. I've noticed the Tory placards too when going past farmland

Why do you think farmers are pro-Tory, especially when they get all that EU money?

[tjwmason]

7. This is one of the most affluent places in W. Europe.

But we still get relatively few Tory posters, even on the farmland.

[T_i_B]

9. Now this is a surprise!

I get a DUer in Labour's heartland's agreeing with me (say you don't get Tory signs in County Durham Anarcho-Socialist, say it ain't so!) and I get a DUer in Toryland disagreeing!

Still, speak as you find, and whilst Tory signs are indeed a rarity in most places you still get one or two places where farmers have put up large "VOTE CONSERVATIVE" signs by the side of roads. The most obvious one is by the side of the railway line just south of Chelmsford, where a local farmer decided that commuters could do with a big dose of Tory advertising on their way to work in London. And I can think of a few others beside that. Not too many, but they do seem to follow a pattern.

[T_i_B]

5. At least you get Labour leaflets!

The only parties that ever seem to bother leafleting me are the Lib Dems and UKIP, who came 3rd and 4th in my constituency in the general election. The two main parties, Conservative and Labour only send me 1 leaflet each at election time. Not at all like when I was living in Sheffield and Labour and the Liberals used to deluge everyone. Evidently the two main parties are not interested in my vote.

[ben_packard]

8. Starkey is my MP also...

Whereabouts in MK are you? Might have asked you before but can't recall. I'm in Bletchley.

[Guy_Montag]

10. Do farmers get paid for the signs?

at least the large ones. I've seen a mix from standard plackards to ones the size of billboards. Normally in Northumberland rather than Co. Durham.

My MP did the same, a thanks for voting for her (voted LD too), and, though she's not had much time, has never rebeled.

http://www.theyworkforyou.com/mp/roberta_blackman-woods/durham%2C_city_of