Well said.

Fair point - I cannot disagree, but it has not only been the politicians. There are many factors that have encouraged people not to think; not to question, for example, technology. Cheap technology has encouraged children to live separate lives from adults - they live in their bedrooms, sucking in all sorts of mindless and pernicious muck from T.V., the internet, violent games and films instead of spending time with the family and learning how to be a thinking, social, communicative, questioning being. When you stop to think, there are many factors that have been mutually reinforcing: people not reading, indoctrination being so effective and attractive, succumbing to it so much easier and more rewarding than sticking your neck out and questioning, the financial and political pressures that encouraged the dumbing-down of education, the mass media - TV and internet etc. replacing meeting real people - many factors.....

I have read all the comments on here and have found that a lot of them are academic and unrealistic. As we have seen, time and time again, increasingly, voters are influenced by any sort of media lies and hype. All it needs is for a Mitchell situation - a trivial argument deliberately turned into a very effective media and Police Federation campaign - in order for millions of people to turn against us. Of course, the BBC and its ilk in the media will unleash such a campaign, or series of such, just before the General Election - so all these learned prognostications will be as naught.

The vast majority of the electorate are as uninterested in politics as they are uninformed and unaware. They react to images and sound bites - at the moment the mob's political analysis is: 'Tory Toffs calling us Plebs !'

Because of the domination of the image and video, the triumph of contrived emotion over rationality - the feminization of everything, the delight in the pillory, the plunge of educational standards, massive immigration, a shrinking population of intelligent people and an, understandable, growth of contempt for politicians and politics; the electorate has become more and more uneducated and controlled by emotion and pictures - it is more and more easily brainwashed.

Consequently our sophisticated political cogitations have become more and more inaccurate and pointless because we treat the electorate as a vaguely rational entity that has knowledge of the real world.

Labour have the right idea: present, again and again, simple, vivid, emotive sound-bites and images that appeal to: female T.V.-soap foolish sentimentality, the knee-jerk antagonism of stupid males; that stimulate bogus sympathy and outrage, greed, hatred and envy and therefore can excite the comatose populace - they will retain those images and feelings in their minds and vote accordingly.

The reaction of millions of people to manipulation by the media, the Police Federation and various politicos during this Mitchell farce has to be studied and the lessons learnt. Campaign managers have to watch the sort of programmes and films that are popular and understand what excites and persuades the average voter. It is very clear that it has nothing to do with reasoned argument, facts, social responsibility, justice and rationality - as with the Mitchell case, the mob is driven by emotion and enjoys communal outrage and someone or a group to hate. For example, at the moment they have been stirred up to hate the ex-Public School types but they could be directed to hate the wealthy EU political class, pampered liberals, lunatic Greens or the State Fat Cats here. It is ALL a matter of playing upon their emotions. The Left, i.e. the BBC and its ilk, have been carrying out a very effective campaign of indoctrination against the Right and those who believe in England and our traditions, for decades.

The mistake that the Conservatives always make is to invest the electorate with their own rationality, education and sense of responsibility. Simple, repetitive and emotive - and making the mindless feel part of a collective - that's the way to manipulate the mob. Unfortunately, we need to stoop to employing cunning, media weasels like Campbell and use indoctrination like the BBC. The crucial difference is that the Left and the Statists control and manipulate the people for their own selfish purposes. Real Conservatives have good motives - we are people of good faith and act in the interests of the electorate.

Ignore the thumbs down - a lot of trolls of the Left on here.

Lots of lefty trolls on here Elaine.

Cameron's bosses in Brussels say no. The EU is busy erasing England.

Doubtless, yet more inappropriate gagging.

Yes, for days and days we had the c word on a post - in full. Nothing was done, despite our complaints. Matthew really has some strange ideas about moderation and he enjoys his power to gag people. We need more mature people who believe in Free Speech and know when to delete.

'As for the private sector not being perfect, no really, afterall if you can't make money out of the sick and disabled, well what sort of capitalist are you?'

The State aparachiks, leaders, managers and staff have been making money out of the sick and disabled for ages. In the many cases of the bloated, over-paid, incompetent upper management - very large amounts of our money - billions - in return for many, many cases of atrocious lack of care, sometimes chaos ... but always that State, careless attitude of 'we are doing you a favour'. Because the State, left/liberal Establishment and BBC brainwashing has been effective, does not mean that this is acceptable. Escape from the brainwashing and see what is really happening. When will the BBC do an expose on State and EU corruption and poor treatment of people? Never - always the same old targets of the Leftist Statist dogma - always attacking private enterprise and extolling the State.

Does Grant Shapps read these responses?

I doubt it. When an active member, I had years of bovine excrement about how our feedback was important etc. blah... blah.... Other people and I went to a lot of trouble sending reports of discussion groups - all filed at HQ: 'pointless mutterings of the serfs - to be ignored.'

Grant has made the ritual noises and now he can get on with toadying to Cameron and co.. Would he ever dare to criticize yet another anti-Conservative policy or attitude that drove away even more members - no, of course not - as a typical Cameroon, everything is about self-advancement; pretending to be Conservatives was a way to achieve that.