• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Joint Public Issues Team

Churches working for peace and justice

  • Home Page
  • Who We Are
    • Six hopes for society
  • Issues
    • Economy
      • Tax Justice
      • Reset The Debt
      • Living Wage
    • Environment
      • Net Zero in My Neighbourhood
    • Poverty and Inequality
      • The Cost of Living Crisis
      • Universal Credit
      • Truth and Lies
      • Enough
      • Rethink Sanctions
      • Faith in Foodbanks
      • Housing and Homelessness
    • Asylum and Migration
      • Refugees
      • End Hostility
      • The Asylum System
    • Peacemaking
      • The Arms Trade
      • Nuclear Weapons
      • Drones
      • Peacemaking resources
    • Politics and Elections
      • Elections
      • Meet Your MP
      • Art of the Possible
      • Brexit
    • Other Issues
      • International Development
      • Modern Slavery and Exploitation
        • Forced labour in fashion
  • Get Involved
    • JPIT Conference 2022
    • Newsletter
    • Events
    • Walking with Micah
  • Resources
    • Advent
    • 10 Minutes on… podcast
    • Politics in the Pulpit?
    • Stay and Pray
    • Season of Creation
    • Prayers
    • Public Issues Calendar
    • Poetry
    • Small Group Resources
  • Blog

A Labour ‘Party’

Blog, Politics and Elections · 29 September, 2017

A Labour ‘Party’

This month we have a delegation of church leaders attending each of the four biggest party conferences, alongside The Salvation Army and Quakers in Britain. This blog is about our visit to Labour conference.

Click to read about our visits to the Lib Dem and Conservative conferences.

I attended the Labour Party Conference this week with senior representatives of our churches.

 

We were present for the Tuesday of Conference.  Jeremy Corbyn’s speech was scheduled for Wednesday and eagerly anticipated by Conference delegates.  In the main hall chants of ‘Oh Jeremy Corbyn’ summed up the mood of the party faithful – it felt as if the party leader could do no wrong.

We had six meetings with prominent Labour MPs.  We wanted to listen to their interests and fears and to thank them for their public service.  We wanted them to know that we would pray for them, and of course we asked for their views on specific issues and how they thought our church members might help to bring about change.  As a result there is some scope for one or two follow-up meetings in Parliament.  ‘Brexit’ was in the background rather than the foreground of these exchanges.  The topics discussed included strengthening cohesion in diverse communities, better support for asylum seekers, problems caused by Universal Credit, struggling local economies, the arms trade and foreign policy.

We also enjoyed a Prayer Breakfast hosted jointly by Christians on the Left and All We Can.  Simon Beresford of All We Can spoke on the nature of true relationship in international aid. Revd Stephen Keyworth, Baptists Together, extended this theme with a theological reflection around the Good Samaritan.   Stephen Timms MP, a very committed Christian who has for many years been the focal point in the Parliamentary Labour Party for engagement with faiths, offered a thoughtful reflection.  He suggested that values are in-vogue again in politics.  This gives a political party an additional reason to ensure that it is entirely comfortable with the presence of faith in the party, because, he suggests, Christians tend to be passionate about values and seeing values lived out in the world.

Much food for thought amongst the celebratory atmosphere.

If  you’d like to explore the relationship between faith and politics further then download and use our six-week bible study, ‘The Art of the Possible‘:

Filed Under: Blog, Politics and Elections Tagged With: Faith, Party Conference

Steve Hucklesby

Steve's background is in international relief and development, having worked for 10 years on programmes in conflict and post-conflict settings in Africa and Asia. He is committed to exploring Christian responses to conflict and injustice, covering areas such as non-proliferation, ethical investment and climate change.

Previous Post: « The Nuclear Ban Treaty gains 50 signatures on its first day
Next Post: Take Action »

Primary Sidebar

Search

Recent Posts

  • Homes for Ukraine – One Year On
  • Response to the ‘Illegal Migration Bill’ – March 2023
  • Ukraine Invasion – One Year On
  • JPIT’s Review of 2022
  • What does Government Support for Asylum Seekers really provide?
  • God with Us – the Refugees of Calais and Dunkirk
  • How can we respond to COP27?
  • Statement on the conclusion of the COP27 Climate Conference in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt
  • COP27 – what should we be looking for?
  • “He has filled the hungry with good things” – What we need from the Autumn Budget
  • What are the stories we should tell about the humanitarian crisis at Manston Airport Asylum centre?
  • How can we be sure that the products we buy are not the result of modern slavery?
  • Why I hate Warm Banks (and why my church is opening one)
  • How does our theology call us to challenge Poverty?
  • Introducing Alfie
  • Biden says nuclear risk is the highest since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis
  • Churches respond to risk to benefit levels
  • Briefing on the ‘Mini Budget’ for the Enough to Live group
  • Introducing Hazel
  • Introducing Hannah

Subscribe to our monthly newsletter

Footer

Follow us

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Quick links

Stay and Pray
Politics in the Pulpit
Faith in Politics podcast
Public Issues Calendar
Useful Links

Our work

About Us
Meet the Team
Join the Team 
Internship
Our Newsletter

Contact us

25 Marylebone Road
London NW1 5JR

Tel: 020 7916 8632

enquiries@jpit.uk

Copyright © 2023 · Showcase Pro on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in