God's Country

Part Thirty-Nine

'The Bible is God's word expressed and revealed to his creature, man.'

Joseph Franklin Rutherford

"Charles Buckingham, welcome to Sunday Politics," Gary Burk said, turning to his guest as the red light went on and the floor manager counted them in, his smile locked in place for the zooming camera.

"Thanks Gary, nice to be here." Buckingham grinned, looking Sunday casual in an open-necked shirt, jacket and beige chinos. Forbes wanted them all to loosen up a little bit, if at all possible. He had taken his tie off in the car. He doubted it Michael Winstanley would approve as the good Pastor was never seen without his tie. But Forbes was right, of course. There was a danger that the CDP came over as strict and stern Bible bashers, so they needed to show their casual side every once in a while. Buckingham still wanted to be businesslike, but the television took him into people's homes and on a Sunday a suit could look wrong to most people. He hoped that would not always be the case but politics was a game. He had to play the game.

"Let's start with an easy one...why are you riding so high in the polls? What are you saying that is capturing the attention of so many potential voters at this stage of the campaign?"

"Well, for a start, we are fresh faces...and we have no blood on our hands. I have said many times that I am not interested in whose fault our problems are, I just want to solve them, but the simple fact is the people remember, and they are tired of hearing the same old things from Labour and the Conservatives. Our ideas are new and radical in places, and that is starting a debate I hope will encourage the next government to really challenge the status quo. We need new answers, not more hot air."

"But you can say these radical things with little fear of ever being in any position to implement them? You are just floating 'ideas' that no one will ever implement?"

"None of our proposals are uncosted, but they do need some independent scrutiny before implementation of course...and any future government who sees a particular strategy that is both popular and has a better than even chance of success ought to have the courage to pick it up. I have been accused of being a breakaway from the Conservative Party, but that is just not true. I stood as a Tory in the past but our manifesto as Christian Democrats is neither left nor right...it is more focussed on right and wrong...and I know that is a cliché...and a sound bite...but it is nevertheless true. I do not expect to be Prime Minister in three weeks time...you know as well as I do that we only formed our party shortly after the last election, and there was no time to approve candidates for every seat...but we want to start the debate because we can't afford to wait another five years for something to be done here. And if Henderson or Strickland picks up any of our policies I will be the first to congratulate them, because this is not a power kick for me...I want to help this country improve and make it a better place to live...for everyone."

"Come on, Charles...National Service nuns? No one could ever take that seriously." Burk chuckled to himself, and Buckingham had to fight an irresistible urge to punch him on the nose. Burk was typical of the British media and the BBC in particular. He was the sort of left of centre socialist whose smugness was almost unbearable. Burk was just the sort of man who thought he was superior to the man in the street, the people who paid his wages. His high salary and state-funded education had fed his arrogance, and he had no idea what life was like in the real world. Buckingham knew that he had been sheltered in the Westminster bubble for a few years, but he had lived in the real world apart from that, he was different. He was sane enough to realise that all politicians would say that, and to recognise that it was only partially true, but being able to recognise it set him apart from the likes of Burk.

"My church already has a convent whose Sister's work daily in a nursing home. So it is possible however much the media laugh at the idea. Look Gary, whether you actually like it or not, our churches...and mosques and synagogues...do a lot of excellent work in education and healthcare. Most of the best state schools we have are church run, and rather than closing grammar schools like Labour, or randomly approving vast numbers of free schools like the Conservatives, I would let the church take on more schools. Education is a typical area where Labour got it totally wrong and the Conservatives have never had the courage to put things right, but the church would...because they are already working in our most challenging communities and making a success of it. Many more church schools, more grammar schools as well, much better discipline, more pride...and a focus on academic excellence. Labour was behind every tin-pot technical college in this country rebranding itself as a university and getting kids off the dole queue to take a degree in Eastenders or beauty parlour management for goodness sake. They were behind the creation of tens of thousands of insane non-jobs in the public sector, and billions of pounds of borrowing to pay for their bloated welfare state."