June 23 2014

Bringing together three events that I have been observing over the last couple of weeks brings together Church, State and football.

I suspect you won’t need a clue to guess that the football I refer to is the World Cup. The State issue I’m thinking of is the dispute between Cabinet colleagues Michael Gove and Theresa May and the Church connection is that on Tuesday I had breakfast with David Cameron and the Archbishop of Canterbury – well Ok there were seven hundred other people there as I attended the National Parliamentary Prayer Breakfast but it was a much better event for that; the Prime Minister was there to hear the Archbishop who was the guest speaker. Incidentally Ed Miliband was also there and more of him later. The link to the other two stories is that, as the Archbishop acknowledged the Church of England does not escape its own disputes.   

I’m writing this column immediately after watching England’s defeat at the hands of Uruguay and, in particular, by Luis Suarez. Sadly the team look like being on the flight home sooner than we would have liked.

I won’t inflict my own analysis of the match as you’ve probably had your fill of football punditry over the last couple of weeks but one message has been coming through loud and clear; we are not playing as a unit – too many individuals and not enough teamwork.

Teamwork is of course essential to government and once a policy is decided on collective responsibility as it is called comes into play and all government members must stick to the line leaving backbenchers like me to criticise or support as we see fit. I always take the view that I must always balance what I consider to be the best interests of my constituency and the views of constituents against the fact that many if not most people decide who to vote for based on the party label and so expect a Conservative MP to support a Conservative, or in the present case, a Conservative led government. I’m firmly of the view that I or any of my colleagues can maximise our influence by making clear our opposition and being prepared to vote against the government when necessary but choosing the most important issues; if you are a permanent thorn in the side you will lose influence rather than gain it and that is not in the best interests of those you represent.

But when teamwork breaks down as in the recent spat involving Michael Gove and Theresa May many in the media immediately focus on the personalities and we risk the serious issues at stake being trivialised. Surely none of us seriously consider than everyone in government agrees all of the time and if they did surely that would be bad for government. Any government needs serious debate and discussion to flush out the failings in whatever policy is being considered.

The internal conflicts the Archbishop referred to was the role of women in the Church of England. After years of debate the Church eventually allowed women to be ordained and ever since has been wrestling with the divisive issue of whether, or perhaps more accurately those priests should be able to become bishops.

Thankfully Archbishop Welby seems to have brokered a solution that will allow the Church to concentrate on preaching the Gospel and carrying out its wider role in society rather than endless internal debates.

What of Ed Miliband? Labours hopes of returning to government at next year’s General Election are growing less and less. His personal ratings dropped by another fourteen points in a poll published a few days ago. After the Newark by-election and the continuing improvement to the economy the Government can now move forward knowing that the public is broadly supportive of so much they have achieved. The Labour team are becoming less disciplined and talking out of turn. Have you noticed how few Labour shadow ministers and MPs are prepared to offer undying support when interviewed? Hardly any, Peter Mandelson being one of the latest. They realise they need a new matchwinner b