The Why I am a Conservative series is an opportunity for our supporters to discuss their political beliefs and values. Conservatives are a diverse group of people and this series seeks to prove that.

Contributors to the series have the freedom to approach their article in whatever way they think best. Whether that be an explanation of their philosophy, the story of their political journey or just a statement of their core principles; we only ask that they offer a little of themselves, so that we understand them that bit better after reading it.

If you would like to take part please email me at blog@con4lib.com

Previous contributions

Alexander Harrison

The Conservatives seem more of a home to me than the Left could possibly offer

“Great British Taxpayer”

In the build-up to the 2005 general election I borrowed a permanent marker and scribbled the words “If you’re a wanker” under a huge “VOTE CONSERVATIVE” sign

Jamie Hollywood

Recently I made the decision to join the Tories. This is the first time I’ve announced to many that I’ve left UKIP

Greg O’Kane

The more I considered issues of importance in my life the more I realised that a Conservative approach is the most logical.

Dan Pitt

I am a conservative because when conservatism is boiled down to its marrow, it is about love. No, I have not lost my marbles

Asad Khan

I am socially conservative and economically neo-liberal, though not completely a laissez-faire capitalist

Youma Jamila NANA

I would like this Conservative government to be the one which leads the world into changing its ways towards my land of origin: Africa.

Jonathan Bolt

The Conservatives are painted as ‘posh’, but it was Margaret Thatcher that initiated the flattening on the class system.

Mark Eastwood

If you want a sound economy, low taxes, personal freedom, less government interference in your life and a sense of self worth, then the obvious clear choice is to vote Conservative

Darren Grimes

I decided to leave the Liberal Democrats and join the Conservative Party because the party I joined a year ago has lost quite that classical liberalism that first attracted me to politics.

Tom Hulme

Young, Northern, Working Class…Thatcherite. As I entered secondary school, this is what my left wing teachers were presented with and what smashed their stereotypes to pieces.

Mohammed Amin

I joined the Conservative Party because I saw Margaret Thatcher and her colleagues changing Britain for the better. I have always seen the Conservative Party as the party for positive change

James Clayton

The five year coalition government changed my views. What I saw was pragmatic, reforming, prudent government steadily setting the UK on the road to recovery

Martin Bailey

My family’s involvement with the scandal at Mid Staffs Hospital was obviously a contributory factor, probably even the catalyst for this change.

Maria-Rebecca Murphy

If there’s one thing that makes me so sure of my position, it’s one simple concept: freedom.

Ben Locker

I believe in creating the conditions in which ‘misfits’ can find their niche and thrive.

Callum John Hawthorne

To be a Conservative is in essence to accept the fallibility of human reason, to embrace the vicissitudes of human nature and to deny the existence of a monopoly of Truth

Laveen Ladharam

After travelling through Asia this summer, visiting many living cities and historical locations, I now know why I’m a conservative.

Ben Harris

Chief among my reasons for being a Conservative is a belief that the government should do what is right rather than what simply looks good.

Dr. Dhara Anjaria

I grew up in Western India, traditionally a conservative stronghold, but right wing ideas tended not to be articulated in the local English language press.

Tom McLaren

Born in the 70s, I’m a child of the 80s, and I have seen first-hand the benefits of the economic and social reforms that the Conservative party brought about./

Elena Attfield

The morality of conservatism, opportunity and economic freedom, embeds itself in liberal Thatcherism; not in any centre-ground-pleasing statism.

Max Turner

I live and breathe capitalism, enterprise and the power of the free individual.

Ted Yarbrough

I am a Conservative because the party is the vehicle that – through the (preferably limited) use of government – helps bring out the best in the United Kingdom.

Jade Marsden

I’m from Liverpool. And not one of the nicer parts either. I grew up in Wavertree, the child of a nurse and a second generation Polish immigrant. If you believe there is such a thing as a ‘typical Tory’, then I’m not it.

Jamie Cooper

Left wing people want to build a utopia and teach the world to sing, but they make a mess by reaching for unobtainable things.

Joe Wood

I have seen, first hand, the success of free markets to create wealth, employment and innovation.

Paul Nizinskyj

I began to see I was a conservative in the English sense of the word because we have in this country a centuries-old tradition of individual liberty under the rule of law rather than the rule of men.

Charlie Jameson

I believe in freedom, limited government, self-reliance, individualism, free enterprise, equality of opportunity, limited government and the potential virtues of capitalism.

Toby Young

Fundamentally, my political views haven’t changed. As a 14-year-old anarchist, I felt the same implicit mistrust of the state as I do now.

David Shore

I loved my brother and looked up to him, but his angry socialist days were like a vaccination to me.

Hani Mustafa

The core conservative values of family, aspiration, and being able to stand on your own two feet are values which any young person will realise are vital

Ben Manton

After learning of political wings and ideologies, I felt much more comfortable in the Conservative camp. Small government, pro-business, job creation…

Samuel Hooper

I believe that the Conservative Party remains our best long-term hope to strengthen the nation state, meet the challenges of globalisation and to finish the work that Thatcher started by building a society where the state serves the people

Robert Finn

Conservatism is in my blood: my mother is a conservative of the Joe Clark (for Canadian PM) variety, and all my ancestors on her side of the family were loyalists

Henry Hill

I remember taking those political compass quizzes and deliberately picking my answers to get me into the ‘Statist’ quadrant. I self-identified, literally, as a ‘statist’. Forgive me.

Natalie McAleer

I have come to see the negative impact of creating a nanny state, and a benefit-dependent society which blames the Government for every little thing that goes wrong.

Neil Wilson

I’m a Conservative because conformity is statist, it is mind numbing and it is economical and socially destructive.

Emily Barley

Without coming from a political family, I was raised as a Conservative. And that was re-enforced by my broader environment.

JP Floru

I am a Conservative because it is the political system under which the sum of all individuals advance most.

Chris Manby

To be a conservative is to oppose radical change for it’s own sake. Left liberals cry out ‘hope!’ and ‘change!’ with little regard for what they hope to change.