The grey vote is already being mobilised in many countries. In the US, the American Association of Retired Persons provides a huge range of advocacy services on behalf of older people, many of them in the political arena. Germany's Grey Panthers even formed their own political party, which was recently dissolved as a result of a funding scandal: in that respect, at least, it was clearly no different from many other political parties. However, it is a mistake to think that the grey vote has to manifest itself in distinct political groupings. Grey power is normally wielded by persuading traditional parties to move their views closer to the concerns of the old.

It might be thought that older voters do not tend to vote in their own interests but, instead, vote according to strongly-held political principles or in the "general interest" of society. Unfortunately, that is not true. Although people vote differently for a whole raft of reasons, the principled or habitual Conservatives tend to cancel out the principled or habitual Labour supporters, leaving electoral interest groups with significant power at the ballot box. Indeed, even if people think they are voting in society's wider interests, in reality they often simply use that motive to justify prior views and their own self-interest. Younger people are more likely to vote for increased finance for students and older people are more likely to vote for free bus travel for the elderly.

Older people might be intrinsically more conservative - and inclined to vote Conservative - than younger people. However, this does not mean that, as the population ages, we are more likely to have Conservative governments following policies that involve reducing the size of the state. Most Conservative voters do not understand the term "Conservative" to mean a consistent set of policies based on the principles of free markets and low taxation. What is happening is that in order to attract older voters, the parties are offering near-identical platforms designed to attract older people. The support of older people for the Conservatives does not translate into support for Thatcherite free-market ideals.