“Would you be willing to write an article for Faithroots about reasons for voting a particular way?” I asked a couple of people. I’d hoped to draw in a few guest writers. Unfortunately, I had no takers. A common response was that people did not want to talk, as ministers about politics and their own position. One person observed that whilst they could talk about why you should vote “centre-left” they weren’t convinced they could make a winning case for voting Labour.
Incidentally, I have high sympathy for pastors who don’t want to reveal their political position. I was careful when lead pastor of a church not to share my voting intentions and even now, I am loathe to tell people how I’m voting. I certainly, would not, as a lay-elder get involved in advocating for specific political parties. It’s not that I think that people will be unduly influenced by me. It’s that, especially because party politics can be tribal and define communities, I don’t want political allegiance to become a primary, divisive and distracting issue from the Gospel.
I’m more relaxed about openness around where you sit in terms of the political spectrum (leftwing/right wing, free market/state intervention, high tax, low tax) because I think that does a few things. First, it shows how you seek to implement Biblical principles. Second, I think it helps people to see the diversity of views amongst Christians and that this is okay. I hope that we don’t reach a situation in the UK where Evangelicalism is seen as culturally aligned with a specific political culture. Thirdly because I think it helps us to be open about the kinds of human, hermeneutical lenses we bring and how that can affect our interpretation and application of Scripture -a kind of “declared interest” if you like.
And that distinction between party/tribe and spectrum/philosophy is possible due to the reasons as to why my friend could distinguish between voting Labour and voting left-wing. You see, the match between our political parties and the political spectrum/ideological camps is not an exact match.
We expect The Conservative Party to be essentially centre-right and instinctively low tax free market in their thinking. However, Conservative governments have put up taxes, intervened in business and even introduced a whole department for the rather socialist sounding concept of “levelling up”.
Meanwhile Labour are currently attacking the Conservatives for raising taxes whilst committing to sticking to their spending plans. There are a few reasons for this. First, politicians will themselves sit on a spectrum so that it is impossible to have an ideologically pure party. Secondly, there is recognition that you need to reach out beyond your core base to win over supporters and you are unlikely to change minds in an election campaign. So the big parties assume that their core base will stick with them because they agree with the long term vision but that you’ll need to develop policies which will appeal to floating voters.
All of this means that there is a case for voting for a party, even if it isn’t your preferred choice and even if historically they have aligned differently to you. There may be many people who instinctively lean centre right but will vote Labour in the General Election because they sense that the Tories have run out of steam and broken promises.
Meanwhile, there may be people who think the Conservatives have let them down and wandered away from centre-right/free market/low tax policies along even with some leftwing voters who may be seriously considering voting Labour this time if only to try and preserve some form of credible opposition and alternative for the future.
Some people will vote tactically opting for a party that doesn’t exactly align with their preferences in order to ensure another party doesn’t succeed. Traditionally this has been more prevalent on the progressive/ leftwing side where there has been a more diverse range of political parties whereas the centre right has been more uniformly represented by one party but that may be changing.
There’s a case for each of these options, regardless of where you sit on the political spectrum. Though be aware that there is always a risk. In 1997, Tony Blair was elected with a landslide majority after 18 years of Conservative/Thatcherite rule. Blair had to be seen to lean right/Thatcherite on a number of issues and in terms of overall tone because 18 years had heavily shaped the culture and made positions once considered radical seem commonplace. Fast forward 13 years and David Cameron brought the Conservatives back into power but to do so had to form a coalition with the Liberal Democrats, present himself as Blair’s heir and push a socially liberal agenda. New Labour had shaped the political culture so much. It looks like Starmer is closing in on a super majority but he will do so not be demolishing Conservative philosophical thinking but by leaning into it. Lending your vote one way or other may be okay in terms of immediate policies but may help to shape the future political/social/cultural landscape.
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