The timing is terrible. The furore over my letter to the Prime Minister has exploded on the day I begin a family holiday in a place with no mobile signal and intermittent wifi. Sky sent a satellite truck to the middle of nowhere and, so, got their interview (although I struggled to hear the questions in my earpiece and, therefore, probably sounded incoherent). Otherwise, it is almost impossible to do interviews.
I think one or two comments of explanation are due:
- My letter is neither “bitter” not an “attack” on the Prime Minister. That was journalese. My letter simply tries to ask questions many people are asking, but to which we are not getting answers. I wrote reasonably and respectfully.
- The Prime Minister is in a difficult position and I bet even Ed Miliband is grateful not to have to attempt to bring some order out of the chaos of crises around the globe this month. Prioritising cannot be simple, given the complexity of the issues to hand.
- Asking questions of “coherence” should not imply that there is none (even if there isn't); it does ask for any coherence to be articulated. We are all implicated in our Government's decisions and should, therefore, be able to understand the big picture into which the reactive details fit.
- There is no implied hierarchy of suffering in my letter. Asking questions about the lack of attention to the Chritsians in Iraq cannot imply a rejection of the focus on the suffering of others. It is a specific question about silence.
- It has become clear that many people have written to their MPs (including ministers) about their concerns, and often not even had a reply. Perhaps giving these questions a higher profile might help.
- I do not expect the Prime Minister or his colleagues to reply immediately to my questions. Indeed, I would prefer to wait and receive a considered response that indicates how these concerns are being addressed holistically than to get a reactive response that doesn't take us further.
- The central point (backed up by some quoted military leaders) is that there must be some overarching vision about what we want to see happen in the Middle East – the “we” being not just individual governments in isolation from each other. The strategy is the 'plumbing' that gets us there. If a strategy is to be at all coherent, then it must serve the 'end' to which that strategy is the means. It is this that needs to be seriously debated and agreed – as we will then have to accept the price we are prepared to pay in order to make it happen. (For example, if it meant us staying in Iraq for thirty years, rather than ten, will we do it?)
- I doubt if the Prime Minister will have me on his Christmas card list after this. But, the letter was not an attack on him; it was a questioning of policy and practice. There needs to be a distinction between the letter and the reporting around it.
August 17, 2014 at 5:34 pm
After reading your letter on your blog this morning, I wrote immediately to Grant Shapps, who is my constituency MP (in addition to being the Chairman of the Conservative Party) to add my voice to your concerns. It will be interesting to see how the Government responds.
August 17, 2014 at 5:42 pm
What is incoherent about staying on his family holiday and following public opinion after his return?
Or using the Telegraph to signal his call to hysteria via unnecessary references to terrorism on our streets?
It is all too coherent:
1 follow the majority view (with which I agree) &
2 try and gain votes by proto fascist PR.
August 17, 2014 at 7:11 pm
Nick, your letter to the Prime Minister was perfectly reasonable. People in leadership can only welcome constructive questioning. I don’t see why you should not be on the PM’s Christmas card list after this!
August 17, 2014 at 7:32 pm
God bless you Nick. You are a true Christian leader. I now await representations from my denomination to the government! The “leaders” from my denomination have been more silent than the government on this issue!
August 17, 2014 at 7:48 pm
Nick, you have been highly circumspect and the mischief-makers in the press or in other organisations are not seeking to answer your vital and serious questions but merely to distract attention away. The public will not be fooled by them!
Meirion Rees
August 17, 2014 at 8:36 pm
I think you may be surprised! The Bishop of Manchester spoke well this morning, and the PM seems to be stiffening his resolve, though no action yet.
August 17, 2014 at 10:03 pm
I fully support your letter Bishop Nick – as for the prime minister not putting you on his Christmas card list – he should be grateful for respectful & constructive criticism. Speaking truth to power requires courage but true leaders respect that integrity & are not threatened by it or react negatively to its implications. We wait to see ..
August 17, 2014 at 10:21 pm
It is a shame that you need to clarify your comments; they were clear and well put. I am not surprised that the BBC and others chose to misunderstand or misinterpret them. I hope that you, and the many others who have expressed concerns, will get the measure response and action that are needed.
Now, enjoy your holiday!
August 17, 2014 at 11:40 pm
I just want to say well done and thank you for your letter to David Cameron. I have received nothing sensible despite several messages to Tessa Jowell. What you said has summed up my views concisely and I hope it will have an impact. Have a wonderful holiday and please don’t think of replying. I am just grateful for what you have done.
August 18, 2014 at 8:16 am
Today… Monday. Still no news of action on asylum for Christians, or action to track whereabouts and enslavement of women, after weekend atrocities. Words, words, words, from the PM and FS. Canon White speaking out well on R4.
August 18, 2014 at 9:39 am
Keep up the good work, Bishop Nick. I think it was a respectful letter. Maybe the media didn’t like it because the majority of them haven’t been asking these questions themselves.
I have written (respectfully) to my own Lib Dem MP asking very similar ones. I have yet to receive a reply but he often takes time to reply to specific points. I wonder if the coalition government are waiting for the holidays to be over and all MPs to be back before forming a policy.
The most up to date news can be found via Canon Andrew White (and FRRME) and the Barnabus Fund.
August 18, 2014 at 12:52 pm
Thank you for putting into a letter what many were thinking but were unable to articulate. I do so hope that the resulting “furore” will not spoil a very essential family holiday. I hope that the media will understand this and allow you some R&R and privacy until after your holiday.
August 18, 2014 at 3:46 pm
I think what you did was absolutely admirable and so necessary. Thank you for taking such a Christian lead on this when others have either kept silent or done nothing else but come out with endless and meaningless words. Go away, have your well earned holiday with your family and most of all, enjoy yourselves! So many of us of faith or none are so grateful to you for your consistently good leadership and for doing the right thing by speaking out, and asking for some clarification and answers. Go and have a beer in the sun 🙂
August 18, 2014 at 3:46 pm
Nick, This is excellent strategy and commonsense thinking.
There was a last reported 61,380 civilian staff working for The Ministry of Defence, perhaps there should be 61,381, albeit with Church of England representation. After all, the roots of the Church of England can be proven to go back to the time of the Roman Empire within the Roman province of Britain.
Sufficient history surely to warrant being ‘on the board’.Or perhaps on board!
But please don’t give up the day job entirely!
August 18, 2014 at 6:21 pm
Does the Church of England have coherent policy on the Middle East? We seem to have a plethora of ‘reconciliation agencies’ , e.g. Andrew White of FRME in Iraq, Lambeth Palace (c/o the AoC and David Porter), Coventry Cathedral,, We have other agencies like Oliver McTernan’s ‘Forward Thinking’ organisation with a Middle East focus. How do these agencies relate to each other, if at all? What methodology do they employ? What are their criteria of success? Clearly, the problems of this region will require a political solution, ultimately, but that solution will multi-factorial, with religion as one of the factors.
August 18, 2014 at 6:51 pm
Mark, your last point is precisely the one I was making in my letter.
August 18, 2014 at 10:03 pm
Thank you for saying aloud what many of us say quietly in our prayers
August 19, 2014 at 7:05 am
You asked the PM “What is your holistic vision for the Middle East?” He may ask in reply, “Well, what *is* a Christian holistic vision for the ME?” How important is intercessory prayer? Is it just one factor among many, or the key factor? Should we see Al-Baghdadi as an example of a “mountain” (a kingdom of sorts) that needs removing by prayer, as our Lord taught, “ . . . Have faith in God. For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith. Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.” (St. Matt. 21: 22-24)
August 19, 2014 at 12:00 pm
[…] The timing is terrible. The furore over my letter to the Prime Minister has exploded on the day I be… […]
August 19, 2014 at 2:26 pm
A well articulated letter Nick. Because of other concerns I have actually missed the “furore” but I am not surprised by it. We consistently lack reasoned presentations by the press of important questions put to the government. The default position being to interpret such questions as criticism. What you say is a challenge certainly (it is clearly meant to be) but it needed saying by someone. Thanks for risking the mortar fire. Have a good holiday. Every blessing!
August 19, 2014 at 4:11 pm
Following Canon Andrew White’s letter and exposure in the media last week I reproduced his letter to our congregation and wrote to my MP (with a favourable response) and the Prime Minister calling for asylum for the Christian minority in Iraq. I think your letter, Nick, was measured, respectful and rightly highlighted the lack of media attention to the Christian minority, focussing more specifically on the Yazidis. Thank you Nick for providing bold leadership in these matters – if we don’t speak out who will? Continue to be undaunted and don’t allow yourself to be intimidated or silenced.
August 28, 2014 at 2:17 pm
You say by way of clarification that your letter was neither “bitter” or an “attack” and that the use of such words is journalese. Journalese used to mean the sort of conventional verbal shorthand – often cliché-ridden – that we used to use when trying to compress a set of facts. Reasonably enough the OED defines it as “newspaper English”. But calling your letter “bitter” and an “attack” goes beyond that. It assumes that the writer knows you, your circumstances and above all the real Bainesian motives behind the letter. It is a characteristic modern arrogance.