By Tim Montgomerie Some political observers said that the issue of gay marriage was important in re-electing George W Bush in 2004. Certainly, moral issues were high on voters' list of priorities in that year and referenda outlawing same-sex marriage in swing states, including Ohio, was important in getting out the vote of social and […]
…but you don’t want an English Parliament or a disestablished Church. The final results of our end-December survey are summarised below: 1,816 Tory members were surveyed from 22nd to 28th December.
Christmas quiz time. Three of the following quotations are from an article by David Cameron in The Sunday Telegraph and three from Church of England Bishops. Can you guess which are which? “Labour made a lot of promises, but a lot of them have vanished into thin air. We have not seen a raising of […]
Malcolm Turnbull, the recently-elected leader of Australia’s Liberals, has objected to the suggestion that the Lord’s Prayer – currently used to begin parliamentary proceedings – be replaced or "rewritten". Mr Turnbull issued this statement: "Opening the Australian Parliament each day with the Lord’s Prayer is an important reminder of our shared humanity and a reference […]
A victory for David Cameron and Pauline Neville-Jones today. A big victory. The Times is reporting that Ken Livingstone’s favourite preacher of hate, Yusuf al-Qaradawi, has been denied entry to Britain. The Muslim Council of Britain has accused the Tories Government of surrendering to “unreasonable demands spearheaded by the Tory leader”. That statement tells us […]
Do the sermons of the world’s churchleaders resemble Guardian editorials? That was the conclusion of Giles Fraser writing in the Thursday edition of Britain’s leading left-liberal newspaper (and featured on the Today programme at 8.50am this morning). Rev Fraser, Vicar of Putney, reflected on the Christmas messages of key churchleaders. There was Rowan Williams’ anxiety […]
The former Liberal Democrat leader, Menzies Campbell, appeared yesterday to question the compatibility of serious Christianity with electoral acceptability. Sir Ming’s contribution to BBC1’s Blair Years was quoted in an Independent on Sunday story about Tony Blair’s faith: "The public might have been less willing to give [Blair] the triumph of three consecutive general election […]
The cover feature in this week’s New Statesman is a report on the Tory relationship with Britain’s black voters – Black and Blue. The article by David Matthews notes that the Tories won just 2% of the Black and Minority Ethnic vote at the last election. Can it be turned around? Two black candidates – […]
Great stuff from Michael Gove in The Times. He reflects on the moral force of Christian leaders like John Sentamu, Archbishop of York, in the light of suggestions from Richard Dawkins et al that religious believers "are in the grip of a tragic delusion": "John Sentamu, the Archbishop of York, calmly pointed out that the […]
Last night David Cameron gave the annual William Wilberforce Address to a gathering of more than 850 Christians at an event organised by the Conservative Christian Fellowship. When I organised the first Wilberforce Address nearly ten years ago the attendance was only a third of that number. It is a mark of the progress of […]
It’s Easter Sunday and I hope the more secular readers of ConservativeHome will forgive a dollop of Christianity for today’s ToryDiary. The Cornerstone Group has posted an excellent Margaret Thatcher speech from 1978 on to its website. The speech is a great insight into Mrs Thatcher’s early thinking and includes some powerful references to a […]