[shapefrog]

The conservative party bears the mark of a party of the uneducated and unemployed.

As little as laywers bring to the table, its at least something.

[hkt]

No, they have always been the party of the elite. They pander to the "bread and circuses" crowd because they'd never get elected otherwise.

The ingress into politics has a vicious filter that works against working class people. I've been in the Labour Party and seen it in action. The tories have a native contempt for them too. It is a pretty grim thing that only the left most constituencies choose to field candidates whose lives are recognisable to the average person: Nadia Whittome is a great example of that.

[graemep]

Even if that were true (its not IMO), its not the educated and unemployed who like this sort of legislation.

It is the security services, police, and civil service.

At the moment the weak leadership (useless PM) is giving them an opportunity to rush the politicians into stiff like this.

[hkt]

Back in the day this stuff was recognised. In 1983 Labour's manifesto pledged to abolish the secret services and that was part of the reasoning.