by Lois McLatchie Miller, Premier Christianity
The man who wants to be PM was brought up as a Catholic, but he has also championed puberty blockers for transgender teens, expressed sympathy for assisted dying and signalled support for a conversion therapy ban. Lois McLatchie-Miller takes a closer look at Andy Burnham’s views on ethical issues
“I’m a gay-rights, feminist, football-loving Catholic kind of guy.”
That was how Andy Burnham famously described himself during his first Labour leadership campaign. He has also said that he was made by “Everton Football Club, the Labour Party and the Catholic Church” – “in that order.”
His image has changed a little over the years, but even today, as he delivered his first major speech as potential PM-in-waiting, he evoked soft biblical imagery among his liberal ideological principles – promising to put “hope in every heart” and building on his Makerfield election slogan “Vote Andy, Vote Hope”.
Burnham has never hidden his Catholic upbringing; rather, he has publicly admired the Church’s emphasis on compassion and equality. He has argued that the values of Catholicism and the Labour movement have reinforced one another throughout his life, praising Pope Francis’ concern for the poor and marginalised, and recognising those same instincts in Labour’s historic commitment to equality and public service.
There is much truth in that. Some of the most foundational principles of the left – of lifting up those with the least access to power and ensuring care for the most vulnerable – are inspired by a Christian ethos transmitted by Christ himself. Some commentators have been excited by the prospect of a politician taking office who is openly receptive to parts of the Christian faith.
But neither Catholicism, nor Christianity more broadly, is a collection of values from which politicians may simply pick and choose.
As prime minister, Burnham will need to make hard policy choices that sit right on the pressure points between Christian teaching and a liberal worldview. Within the first few months of entering Downing Street, Burnham is likely to face three defining moral questions: assisted suicide, the government’s proposed conversion practices legislation, and the continued medicalisation of gender-distressed children.