Is the GOP an approximate equivalent to the Tory party here in UK?
927027
Not exactly, but that's as close a parallel as you can make with the Democrats sort of like the Laborites.\n\nYesterday's election would be a lot like a no confidence but bush will not do the gentlemanly thing and step down, the next election will be in 2008.
738029
Conservatism is what it always used to be: don't go trying to change it.\nNo, I don't think Republicans are conservative, I think they are gullible.
725191
I am a Republican.  I believe in personal responsibility (when it comes to working, education, and stuff like that) and I think a party that supports "small government" allows people to take personal responsibility for their lives instead of expecting "big government" to do everything for them and give them everything!  Most of Europe would fall under the "big government" aspect--and I think there are some real dangers should America follow in that direction.
425088
Turncoat Americans like the Republicans
1046749
Well, yes. But that's only one side of the coin. These same social conservatives are very liberal when it comes to pensions and such.
801170
What several have listed are actually conservative ideals.  The republican party is closer to conservatism than the present democrat party, but still not conservative.   Oddly, the democrats in the day of JFK were more conservative than the republican party is today.\n\nUnfortunately the democrat party has gone off the left end of the spectrum and the republicans are heading there too.   We probably need a strong conservative third party if we want to save this country.
762674
On immigration, they have about the same ideas as Bush. You should check their website, if you really want to know. There are no party spokespeople here.
1076390
I used to be a Conservative but now I am not sure.  I voted for them in the General Election but sometimes I think the New Leader is more left than Blair.  I am certainly not a Lib - they are a municipal waste of space on the local council.  I have never ever voted labour.\n\nIf the BNP had a local candidate then I would most likely vote for them.
1087868
Yes. Its mostly a parliamentary democracy where the ruling party rules only as long they have majority support of the parliament. And the parliament tends to reflect, doesn't always reflect exactly though, but tends to reflect the views of the people. So the system is a lot more dynamic. In the US once some party has a majority they are in there for a term, regardless of whether or not the people have changed their mind within that term. Also, the US has only 2  choices, but not everything can be divided into two categories. There are endless possibilities of combinations of choices. No political party represents those combinations. May be someone has conservative views on fiscal policy but liberal views on social or foreign policy, who does he vote for? None!\nSo in that sense the EC is more advanced than the US. Which is not surprising, after all, everything that the US boasts of today came from Europe at some point.
397472
The Tory Party and the Whig Party are two political parties. I believe the Tories tried to meet the needs of the upper class, while the Whigs tried to meet the needs of the lower class. In the American colonies, the Tories were Loyalists and the Whigs were Patriots.
271617
it is that the british people are conservative
768500
For other uses, see Tory (disambiguation).\nThe term Tory (from Irish Gaelic tóraighe, an outlaw or guerrilla fighter, during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms — literally meaning "pursued man") applied to the Tory Party, the ancestor of the modern UK Conservative Party. To this day it is often used as a shortened form for Conservatives. Its usage also applied to the pre-1965 Scottish Unionist Party which operated independently of, although in association with, the Conservative Party in England and Wales.\n\nA similar usage for 'Tory' exists in Canada to describe its Conservative Party. It was also used during the American Revolutionary War to refer to British Loyalists in the colonies. During the American Civil War, supporters of the Confederacy extended the term to Southern Unionists.\n\nThis term is used as a shorthand for Conservative Party. Others still do not regard the terms as synonymous and some, such as the late Enoch Powell, proudly regarded themselves as "Tories", precisely because of its supposed reactionary or die hard connotations. This is particularly true of Monarchists, who refer to its use as one in favour of personal execution of royal powers.
838696
It's not like in the British system where there's a party leader in parliament, and the losing party head retains some status. I'd say Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi and Howard Dean are party leaders.\n\nWould you spell check your nickname? It will add credibility to your questions, which are often quite good!
916173
I do.\n\nThis Tory government is nearly as bad as the last one.
1091518
Tony Blair. Same as it is now.
253162
An odd mixture of both. Although with the Tories now to the left of Labour and Labour to the right of the Tories UK politics is a bit muddled up at the moment !!
442759
Obviously, the Tories want to run the country! Right now there isn't much between the two main parties - they tend to criticise the other without actually saying much. I guess the last Conservative leader who actually had a specific ideology was Margaret Thatcher. But she was loved and hated equally.\n\nThere's a bit of a difference between what Americans would term conservatism and what the British would say. Convervatives here are more subtle - you wouldn't find them outlawing abortion or the teaching of Darwinism in schools, for instance. It's more about letting the economy do it's own thing as opposed to Labour who are more socialist.\n\nDavid "just call me Dave" Cameron seems to be alright. He makes a big thing of playing down his public-school middle class image (here the term public school means private, not state funded, don't ask!) which others tend to rib him about. The lastest Green drive seems to be a publicity thing. Only a couple of weeks ago Labour launched a campaign calling him a chameleon for changing policies so often - claiming that he's gone from 'blue' ie tory to green, red - labour and yellow - liberal democrat in copying their policies.