A rather more common reaction was to say “damn you democracy”. Giles Fraser – an intelligent but frustrating Christian socialist who would do better to stick to the Christianity – wrote: “Right now I feel ashamed to be English. Ashamed to belong to a country that has clearly identified itself as insular, self-absorbed and apparently caring so little for the most vulnerable people among us.” This is hogwash. It implies that the Tories are far, far more Right-wing than they really are – for David Cameron is the man who legalised gay marriage, poured money into the NHS and ring-fenced foreign aid. It suggests, too, that there’s something fundamentally bad about the millions who voted Tory, which ignores the role that active Tories so often play as civic leaders, charity workers, teachers, doctors etc. Fraser’s attitude might also be why “shy Conservatives” don’t tell pollsters how they intend to vote. Who wants to be called “scum” outside of an S&M convention?