because the press, most of which is owned by the Tory barons, has carried out a smear-and-fear campaign for the past n years and, by their constant lies and mis-information,

I agree completely BWM but, sadly, the Labour party on seeing that tactic working, tried a few smears of their own instead of showing up the media lies for what they are. For many people the last election was nothing to do with voting for what you believe is right but voting against what they perceived as the biggest bogeyman. A very poor state of affairs indeed when politics has come down to showmanship and story telling by all parties. Unfortunately, as has been demonstrated here and in real life, people are still falling for it :-(