God's Country

Part Forty-Five

'Put your nose into the Bible every day. It is your spiritual food. And then share it. Make a vow not to be a lukewarm Christian.'

Kirk Cameron

"So, to sum up," Charles Buckingham said, looking up from his detailed notes at his fellow Christian Democrat members of parliament after a positive first meeting of the parliamentary party. "Our conditions are clear. All nine of us are to have ministerial posts at least at a junior level, obviously dependent on levels of experience. We will ask for our two cabinet seats plus clearly defined policy agreements announced publicly in advance of any potential coalition taking office. No fudges, no smokescreens...just very firm and clear policy announcements all to be included in the Queen's speech and scheduled for legislation just as soon as possible. I will make it quite clear that any Conservative climb down from the agreed position will break our agreement...the people will be left in no doubt as to where our red lines are and it will be up to Henderson to play the game...or not, as the case may be."

"But we keep our demands reasonable," Peter Munroe took up the baton as Charles paused for a sip of water.

"Exactly Peter...I want us to focus on the issues that caught the public imagination...so, stay at home benefits for mothers, jobs for fathers is the main priority. There are also a series of social policies at the top of our list...tightening up licensing laws to stop pubs being open all day and late at night...closing many more shops on Sundays...raising the age of consent...and of course giving church schools the legal right to expel pupils who stopped going to church as soon as they had secured a place."

"Are we being too timid?" Michael Winstanley asked, present as one of the national party executive, along with Paul Craig and David Harrington, as the three of them had effectively funded and inspired the entire operation. They had a right to be there.

"I don't think so Michael...the fact is we are the fourth party in terms of size. We also only stood in twenty five seats, so to ask for too much would be unreasonable. We are playing to the crowd a little, and that will make it easier for Henderson, because all of these policies scored well with all voters, with the possible exception of raising the age of consent to twenty one. I think we built a strong reputation during the campaign for being reasonable. We did not overpromise. I agree with Alistair that this government will not serve a full term...we only have a four or five seat cushion and the chances of five Conservative MP's either dying or disgracing themselves is pretty high in a relatively short space of time...so we are effectively positioning ourselves for our first full campaign."

"It's really not a question of timidity Michael; it's about what Henderson can justify to his troops." Forbes continued, making quite sure that he had an authoritative voice. He might live in the shadows but he intended to pull the strings. "Get what we can now and then we play the straightest of bats in public. Integrity, honesty and decency were our campaign platform and we all have to put it into practise. If one of you gets a parking ticket, you will be making a full public confession, and every word you say in public has to come through me and be approved by Charles. We need to look united and stick to our guns. There are only nine of you so we can't dominate the airwaves, but we can punch above our weight if we take every opportunity to underline our credentials. Henderson will not play nice. He will twist and turn and wriggle and squirm, but we sign this agreement in blood and we make sure we are not the ones blamed for the inevitable break up when it comes. And in the meantime we work bloody hard to make sure we deliver on our promises and that no one can say we did not pull our weight. You all have to be whiter than white and work harder than anyone else."

'That God cannot lie, is no advantage to your argument, because it is no proof that priests cannot, or that the Bible does not.'

Thomas Pine