Dining across the divide: ‘I was very surprised to meet someone committed to Conservatism at such a young age’ | Life and style
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Hugo, 21, Birmingham
Occupation Social media manager for the Conservative party
Voting record Always Conservative
Amuse bouche Hugo took up competitive powerlifting as a teenager to deal with stress during the pandemic
William, 39, Birmingham
Occupation Researcher in transport psychology
Voting record William can vote in both the UK and France, and usually opts for a leftwing party – here, either Labour or Green
Amuse bouche William was once attacked by geese while running along the canal. In revenge, he added a question about geese to his transport research, and it turned out roughly 30% of runners have had a goose incident
For starters
Hugo I thought he seemed like a really reasonable, nice guy. He told me about the work he does in transport; it’s really respectable, useful stuff.
William I was very surprised to meet someone committed to Conservatism at such a young age. But he was very articulate. He’s knowledgable, he knows the policies much better than I do. You can’t judge a book by its cover.
Hugo I had buttermilk chicken tenders, for the main I had fish and chips, and for dessert I had a chocolate souffle.
William Starter I had prawn cocktail, and the fish and chips. It’s a British pub.
The big beef
Hugo We talked about Palestine Action, in light of the four who were sentenced recently. He wasn’t aware that one of those quote-unquote protesters hit a policewoman with a sledgehammer. A lot of the points I made were in his media blind spot. So he’d say: “If what you’re saying is true, I agree with you.”
William That was our spiciest disagreement. He said there were a number of facts that had been cherrypicked by the media, and other things that weren’t covered. If someone has been attacked from behind with a hammer, the perpetrator should be in jail, but four of them sent to jail for at least four years and eight months, I think it’s a bit harsh. They’ve been destroying military goods funded by public money. They believed these weapons, these drones, were being used for a genocide. We agreed that it was a genocide.
Hugo Palestine Action undoubtedly is a terrorist organisation. If the courts are saying it is, if politicians are saying it is, then it is. It’s violent action with the intention of influencing government. The sentencing was absolutely just. If you do have objections to what the government’s doing, you can take out that frustration at the ballot box, not with a sledgehammer.
William Rather than being imprisoned, they should have been made to do community service, and it would be very tongue-in-cheek and ironic, since they destroyed military equipment, to make them do military service.
Sharing plate
Hugo I started to explain some of the moral issues around the triple lock – you’re taking the wealthiest of the generations, and plying them with more and more cash, while loads of graduates are going on the dole because they can’t find any work – loads of young families are really struggling.
William He said something that struck me: “I’m not even counting on having a pension.” He’s not saying: “We should remove the triple lock, so I can benefit from it.” He’s saying: “We should have something less expensive and invest elsewhere,” assuming that he wasn’t personally going to benefit from it either way. So his point of view wasn’t selfish, it wasn’t centred on his own generation. I didn’t realise the triple lock was so expensive, and now I’m not sure it is viable.
For afters
Hugo The Rwanda scheme was a popular policy with the electorate, but Rishi Sunak’s government was initially unable to carry it out because of the ECHR. We should be setting the standards with a British bill of rights.
William I didn’t know the Rwanda scheme was popular, but I didn’t contest it. I still think you need an international gatekeeper of inalienable rights. Sometimes what the population expresses isn’t what’s best for the population.
Takeaways
Hugo He said that when you sit down with someone from the Conservative party, it was much closer to what he believed than he realised. I was proud of myself for getting him to that point.
William He’s a gentleman. We connected on LinkedIn.
Additional reporting: Kitty Drake
Hugo and William ate at The Old Joint Stock in Birmingham
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