Enid Blyton: Did she vote Labour or Conservative?

[KFA]

Does anyone know how Enid Blyton voted? Did she vote for Labour Party candidates for the British House of Commons, or for Conservative Party candidates? If not, anyone care to speculate? There seems to be little concrete evidence of her voting habits.

[Kitty]

If she voted at all, I'd assume she was a Tory - purely because Bets admired Winston Churchill, though .

Seriously, I've no idea. She reads like an old-school Tory to me, but I could be just projecting, and I'm certainly NOT a Blyton expert, so I always bow to the knowledge of those who know better!

[Rob Houghton]

Don't forget that the Liberals were more popular than Labour in Enid's day!

However, I think she would have been a conservative voter. It wouldnt have benefitted her very much voting for anything else, really.

[Lucky Star]

I've no idea really but I must say that I have always seen her as a True Blue, Daily Mail reading Tory. I'm not sure why, its just the impression I have had of her for a long time. Perhaps its because of the solid and traditional values espoused in her books which are, these days at least, usually most associated with the Conservatives and the right wing press.

[lizarfau]

The pocket-money-sharing system at Whyteleafe was rather leftish, though ...

And her making the disabled boy leader of the Sturdy Six in one of her short-story collections was revolutionary for its day. As for George ... she wasn't going to grow up into a Home Counties housewife, was she?

I suspect Enid's politics were a little like the rest of her life ... rather complicated.

[Viv of Ginger Pop]

I am absolutely certain that Enid WOULD have voted, and never dreamt of squandering the privilege!

In the year of her birth 1897 the very polite National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies was formed. All through her childhood, the Suffragettes would have been campaigning for women's suffrage, with women going on hunger strike and even dying for the sake of the vote.

Enid was 21 in 1918 when some women got the vote, but you had to be age 30 and a property owner to qualify.

She would have qualified in 1927, but then votes for everyone over 21 came in 1928.

It is so easy for us Western Women to forget how far we have come in the last 100 years, and it is sobering to remember that in some parts of the world women still don't have the vote, because regardless of education level, they are regarded as "deficient".

Viv

[Enikyoga]

I am of the view that Blyton voted Conservative in light of her views pertaining to the monarchy as well as support for controversial issues such as the death penalty during her heyday.

[Boodi]

Due to the traditional values espoused in her books I assume that Enid would have voted Conservative. However, on reading this thread the thought struck me that, had she been alive today, Enid just MIGHT have voted Green, as there are a great deal of green and environmental themes in many of her books.

[jemmah100]

Hi!
this probably has been mentioned somewhere on this website, but i was just wondering what Enid believed in politically. As I always find that the Nautiess (sorry i cant spell) Girl series is always quite 'communist' but i always thought that Enid Blyton was more consevative? I know that her books will obviously not always represent what they believe but most authors views are often in their books, arent they?
jemma

Edit: I've merged your thread with an earlier one, Jemma, just to keep everything together. - Anita

[Francis]

Jemma wrote

Hi!
this probably has been mentioned somewhere on this website, but i was just wondering what Enid believed in politically. As I always find that the Nautiess (sorry i cant spell) Girl series is always quite 'communist' but i always thought that Enid Blyton was more consevative? I know that her books will obviously not always represent what they believe but most authors views are often in their books, arent they?
jemma

I am sure that Enid was generally rather Conservative but not overtly political. It would be
fun to imagine what the Famous Five (minus Timmy) tell us about her. When they grow
up (if that day ever happens!) I would expect Julian to be an important figure in industry - and do very well. Dick might try to relive his exciting adventures by travel and exploration.
George would set up Kirrin Island as an animal reserve (Timmy would be buried there on the sad day
when he passed away - he could chase rabbits for all time). Ann would do social work and
perhaps she would persuade George to allow disadvantaged children who love animals and behave well
to come and camp on Kirrin Island for short breaks. Julian would help by providing finance for the reserve.
So part of Enid is Conservative, part adventuress, part supporting the natural world but also a part seeking to help and improve others.
Francis

[dsr]

I think admiration for Winston Churchill is a red herring - as the 1945 general election proved, it was possible to have a vast admiration for Churchill and still vote Labour.

[Moonraker]

I am just thankful that politics and the world's religions don't feature in Enid's works of fiction!Just a token acknowledgement to the parish church and the ringing of the bells on a Sunday morning!

[Katharine]

I am just thankful that politics and the world's religions don't feature in Enid's works of fiction!Just a token acknowledgement to the parish church and the ringing of the bells on a Sunday morning!

I agree. I think one or two books mention characters actually attending church, The House At The Corner being one, but it never specifies what kind of church.

I think it's interesting she didn't make a big point of religion as I know she wrote a number of books on a religious theme.

[Yak]

What Moonraker said . Whatever her politics were and whether I'd have agreed with them or not - if she really was a DM reading Tory I would certainly not have done *grins* - she seems to have largely kept them out of her books and I respect that.

[Dick Kirrin]

It would sound and feel a bit weird - children expressing views on politics that could clearly linked with one party or the other, so I'm not too surprised that EB kept that sort of thing out of her books. From the social background and upbringing of her characters we can draw conclusions as to what their political views may have been - if they had lived anywhere else but in the reader's - our - fantasy.
Attending or thinking of attending church appears infrequently in the books, Enid does not mention any particular church or faith, however. Once again, her characters, or rather those that would attend mass, are Middle-class people which makes it most likely that they'd be Protestants of some sort. Again this applies to the "What-if-the-Kirrins-were-a-real-family?" kind of reading, fictuous characters have neither political or religious views outside their environment, i.e. the book they appear in.

Enid herself and politics? I could well imagine her being a person with a rather "conservative" attitude in general. Doesn't mean she voted for only one party, does it? It has already been pointed out that there are passages in her books that could be interpreted as "Leftist", "Liberal" or "Green".

At the eve of an election of no international relevance which might all the same change a lot where I live, I had to check up my views and compare them with the agandas of the parties competing for my vote. Of course I have made up my mind by now, but there are points in which personal views differ from those expressed by the party that's going to get my vote. Why should Enid be different - or, come to that, most other people?
In Germany, we very often say that we'll vote for what appears the smaller of two evils. Don't know it that makes sense in English, but the general idea is to opt for the candidate or party that will cause less harm. Trouble is you very often only find out about it after they won the seats...

Cheers

Dick Kirrin