WHOEVER becomes the subsequent leader of the Conservative Party will need to indicate “character” to rebuild trust, the chair of the Christian Conservative Forum (CCF), David Burrowes, said on Tuesday.
Mr Burrowes, MP for Enfield Southgate from 2005 to 2017, is a co-founder of the CCF, and was speaking from the Party Conference in Birmingham.
The conference, he said, was being dominated by the leadership contest between James Cleverly, Robert Jenrick, Kemi Badenoch, and Tom Tugendhat; nevertheless it was necessary also for the party to reflect on why it lost the General Election: “I worry a little bit bit that one thing we’ve got good at doing is changing leaders and pontificating a couple of latest leader, and that’s what we’re doing here predominantly, when actually, we may have to get back into the mode of listening and learning what went fallacious, and understanding the depth of concern and distrust and disinterest in various quarters,” he said.
Christians within the party had a key part to play, he suggested, as Christians had “quite a very good story in our DNA of renewing and rebuilding, and the way we humbly state what’s been fallacious, to repent, because it were”.
The CCF had found that many party members were keen to interact with it, he said, and about 70 people attended its prayer breakfasts organised in collaboration with charities including the Trussell Trust, Open Doors, and Spurgeons.
The election defeat in July, when the party lost 251 seats, meant that the CCF had lost lots of its parliamentary advocates, Mr Burrowes said. But the group’s membership was not depending on MPs and even party members. “It’s all the time been based on people up and down the country who’re faithfully engaging in politics and see the Conservatives as a spot for them to perform what they consider is their calling in witness to others,” he said.
On Sunday, the primary day of the conference, CCF members attended a eucharist in Birmingham Cathedral. The Bishop of Birmingham, Dr Michael Volland, welcomed members: “We are praying for and with you and people who will gather for the Conference, and we trust that the Holy Spirit will guide and direct all that takes place in the approaching days, and that you’ll know the blessing and peace of God.”
In his sermon, Dr Volland spoke in regards to the need for prayer in a world in turmoil: “Challenges are throughout, and the necessity of humanity could be very great. In the face of all this I would like to encourage us to wish, to remain within the place of prayer, and from there, shaped by the love and compassion of God, to discern clever and worthwhile motion.”
