Boris Johnson becomes the first baptised Catholic to made Prime Minister
Today is the Feast Day of St Boris (really). And today Boris Johnson kisses hands with the Queen (not the hand of the Queen) to become the 55th person to…
Conservative Party
Man plans and God laughs: resist all you want; Brexit will happen
Church of England Bishops in the House of Lords voted against the Government and in favour of Hilary Benn's Bill to force Boris Johnson to beg Brussels for another extension to Article 50. They they were, orating about the common…
Tory leadership contest: when did vice signalling become a virtue?
The Tory leadership contest has taken a strange turn. Perhaps it's a purposeful distraction from their (non-)strategies for realising Brexit, but they seem to have taken to vice signalling (or,…
Tory leadership contest: how ‘Christian’ are the candidates?
We have arrived at the final two candidates in the Tory leadership contest: either Boris Johnson or Jeremy Hunt will be the next Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and…
Euro elections: you can ‘send a message’, or you can vote to get Brexit done
Being an Anglican blog, there is no absolutism, command or demand in respect of the way people choose to exercise their vote; there is no 'must' or 'should' or 'ought',…
The Conservative Party does not govern – or even exist – by divine right
The Conservative Party is often referred to as "the natural party of government". Certainly, they dominated much of the 20th century – being in power for half of it, while…
Defections, divisions, tribalism and schisms
'What causes fights and quarrels among you?' asked James the brother of Jesus, writing to the twelve tribes scattered abroad. And then he proceeds to answer his own question: Don’t…
Brexit impasse: democracy can be messy – but the alternative is terrifying
'And the Lord said unto Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee' (1Sam 8:7). It might not end well, but never let…
Michael Gove delivers Theos Annual Lecture: “I speak as a Christian”
Michael Gove delivered this year's Theos annual lecture last night, and his subject was environmental justice, stewardship and the moral purpose of government. The whole lecture is well worth reading,…
Would bishops ‘especially’ welcome the Conservative Party Conference to their diocese?
The Bishop of Liverpool Paul Bayes exhorted his Twitter followers to pray for the party conference season, but he reserved an especial welcome for the Labour Party, whose conference is…
The Parable of the Prodigal Tory
There was a political party whose membership included a man and a woman. One day the man said to his party, "You know, I'm increasingly irritated by the political drift,…
Soubry: “Since the referendum, the forces of darkness have taken over”
We have become used to the notion of Brexit apocalypse, as the Archbishop of Canterbury observed last year: "They foresee the Four Horsemen of the Book of Revelation (death, hunger,…
Corbyn commemorating Passover with Jewdas is like May sharing communion with Westboro Baptist Church
The revelation that Jeremy Corbyn chose to commemorate Pesach (Passover) with the far-left, anti-Israel extremist group Jewdas is incredible – literally incredible. Why would the Labour leader choose to celebrate…
Archbishop of Canterbury urges Brexit Christmas truce
"We go back 103 years, we find at Christmas 1914 there was a ceasefire," the Archbishop of Canterbury reminded us in a BBC interview from Lambeth Palace. "It would be…
Bishop of Manchester condemns ‘Hang the Tories’ left-wing hate
One effigy hanging beneath this bridge could be Boris, but it's hard to tell. They're both male – or dressed as men – so the Prime Minister isn't the target. Except…
If a bigot can’t be PM, why should one be allowed to become an MP?
Jacob Rees-Mogg walks into a TV studio. Grand Inquisitor Piers Torquemorgan has wheeled out his rack; his beatific assistant Susanna Reid has greased up the Judas cradle. Heresy is not…
Welby is right: the UK economy is “broken”, but England’s church is limping
It was an unfortunate coincidence that on the day the British Social Attitudes survey was released which announced that more than half (53%) of the British public now describe themselves…
The Conservative-DUP deal is good for the whole country: Labour’s hypocrisy stinks to heaven
"The DUP are, let's face it, the Wahhabists of Protestantism," Labour's Angela Eagle told the audience of the BBC's Have I Got News For You on the evening of 16th…
Grenfell Tower tragedy becomes an anti-Tory hate-fest
Perhaps only those who have lost everything can even begin to understand the trauma of the Grenfell Tower inferno. And even then, the loss that comes with abandonment or flood…
Bishop slams “right wing headbangers” for Brexit and election “disasters”
You cannot know with what life-sapping weariness it must be reported that the Bishop of London (acting), the Rt Rev'd Pete Broadbent, blames "right wing headbangers" for the "disasters" of…