God's Country

Part Sixty-Five

A Mandate to Reform

January 2020

'Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at peace: thereby good shall come unto thee.'

Job 22:21

Miss Ford settled Claire Munroe at the breakfast table. She was not yet moving too well in her matins gown and badly needed some practise, but she was doing well and the guardian smiled as she arranged her skirts for her. Mr Munroe did not watch, preferring to scan the newspapers as he had a busy day ahead of him and no time to waste. Mrs Munroe sat quietly at his side, serene and calm, watching Miss Ford care for her stepdaughter. Mrs Munroe and Claire were both muzzled, and Miss Ford very quickly attached their feeding tubes, her deft fingers managing the task with ease despite her grey gloves. She also squeezed Claire's breakfast bottle, forcing the mush up the tube to encourage the child to begin, filling her mouth. Claire took the hint, giving up on trying to catch her father's eye, and listened to the radio instead, the words stopping her thinking about her misery as she sucked. Her doting stepmother reached out with her right mitten and rested it gently on her arm, offering mute reassurance.

"Good morning to you, this is the Today show on Radio Four. On a truly momentous day in British political history Charles Buckingham joins us from our Westminster studio. He is finalising his first Cabinet, the first Cabinet to represent the Christian Democratic Party in their first government in Westminster. Following the results of our recent election, Charles Buckingham, do you believe you have a mandate to pursue your personal agenda?"

"Good morning Ewan, and honestly, why do you guys make everything about me? I am a politician, I stood on a very clear manifesto along with the rest of the Christian Democrats and I made no secret of my personal beliefs. But our manifesto is a general one, and that is what over 40% of the electorate just voted for. I am not going to deny that these last few months have been a rollercoaster ride, and to a certain extent we are all still playing catch-up here, I suppose, but I have no personal agenda...I just have a crystal clear mandate from the good people of this country to put our change manifesto into action...and that is just what we intend to do."

"All very laudable, but the Labour leader insists that the electorate has been fooled...that you do not believe in democracy and intend to use your powers to push through laws that suit your more extreme personal beliefs?"

"Oh for goodness sake, people have been saying that about me for half a year now and the electorate just proved that they do not believe what Brian Strickland says." Buckingham's laugh fluttered over the airwaves as Claire dutifully swallowed her breakfast mulch through her muzzle. She knew Miss Ford would make her finish it. In her new life, she did not decide even what she drank or ate. "The silent majority...the people successive governments have ignored since the end of the Second World War...made their views on this subject perfectly clear...and nothing our dear comrade can say will change that. The people of this country want a stronger hand on the tiller...they want the government to say no, to draw lines in the sand and stand up for what this country should stand for...modesty, decency, piety and chastity to name but four, and if you think those views are extreme you are just as out of touch with the people as the Labour party obviously are."

"So you plan to make the age of maturity twenty one for everything except marriage? Why is it ok to marry at sixteen if you are not allowed to drive or vote?"

"Because marriage is a family decision, or should be. Under the current system, where we rely on two young people falling in love, one in two marriages ends in divorce. My government will restore the sanctity of marriage. Divorce will be harder but as parental agreement will be required, more commitment will be shown, we believe. Look, twenty one is the responsible age or at least it should be, especially for boys. Most girls will be married by then I hope, which is as it should be."