The direction of the Starmer government bodes ill for orthodox Christians
by Julian Mann, Christian Today:
Tom Baldwin’s biography of Sir Keir Starmer shows that the Prime Minister has the leadership ability to implement his left-wing agenda leading to further restrictions on Christian freedom of expression.
Keir Starmer, The Biography reveals a leader with the capacity for the intellectual hard work required to master the details of government and the moral ability to inspire trust in his followers.
Very arguably, the last Prime Minister to combine those two qualities was Margaret Thatcher until around 1989 when she started to alienate too many of her former followers among Conservative ministers and MPs.
One anecdote from the biography by the Labour Party’s former communications director who has been a senior journalist on The Sunday Telegraph and The Times stands out as an example of Starmer’s leadership ability. Baldwin records testimony from Starmer’s barrister colleague, Gavin Millar, who shared an office with him when they were tenants in the leftist Doughty Street Chambers in London in the 1990s.
Millar recalled an occasion when Starmer was chairman of the chambers’ management committee and was being deluged with complaints from lefty lawyers about the “nasty red” chairs and the cheap desks in their offices.
Starmer sent a message to the entire chambers: “I would remind you all that we are human rights lawyers. We’re here to defend the rights of vulnerable people to (the) best of our ability. We’re not here to be concerned about the colour of chairs.”
Millar said he heard no more complaints after that. This may seem a trivial incident but what Starmer said then and the way he said it are the unmistakable marks of a leader.
As a former vicar, I know how easily a trivial matter, such as the colour of the carpet in the church building, can obsess a group and spread like a virus. Good leadership as Starmer displayed on this occasion can save a peer group from itself and keep the organisation focussed on its central aim.
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