God's Crusade

Part Thirteen

"Sir Charles Buckingham, MP, long term leader of the Christian Democrats and now also world-renowned as the political architect of the so-called modern renaissance...welcome to Desert Island Discs...I really never ever thought we would get you to come on the programme Prime Minister?" Howard Wilkinson, the presenter, laughed, welcoming his star guest with a hearty smile in his voice.

"Oh this is very much my regular guilty pleasure after church on a Sunday morning...before a traditional roast lunch, of course." Charles replied, his voice still rich and calm, offering endless reassurance.

"You have been in power for a long time...can you switch off from it? Would you relax on our desert island?"

"Oh I would certainly try but the last twenty years have been very fulfilling for me. I won't say it hasn't been stressful at times, but I believe we have been doing important work...God's work...and that gives me a lot of satisfaction...and drives me on to do more, not less."

"Is there more to do?"

"Oh yes...lots more," Charles said with obvious conviction. "I am so regularly accused of turning the clocks back, but that's not really true. I believe we have rebalanced our society to fit the times. Michael Winstanley...a big influence in my life...coined the phrase 'the modern renaissance' and I still think it is the most accurate description of what we have done. For lots of reasons, in the twentieth century we lost our way one way or another. It was like an explosion where the barriers were simply blown away and we all ran off in various directions without ever knowing where we were going or indeed why we wanted to get there. But we need some barriers in our lives...we need rules, and guidelines to keep society as a whole on the straight and narrow. I am pleased with our economic performance...of course I am...but I am more pleased by how people live these days. We have restored those old-fashioned ideas like modesty, decency and respect to everyday life. Not only here either, many countries around the world are starting to adapt our policies to their needs. So I would sit quite happily on my own private beach and reflect on that, whilst putting my feet up for a change."

"And what would your first record be on our desert island?"

"It has to be 'Let It Be' by the Beatles...Paul McCartney was writing about his late mother and it always strikes me of a lament for a mother who could not be there for her son anymore to offer her help, support and advice. I am probably most proud of restoring the idea that a women's place is in the home. Not out of some sort of repression, but because of the values a full-time mother passes onto her children, to the stability it gives her family."

"Your own children and grand children are a big part of your life?" Wilkinson asked, as the song faded away. "Especially your eldest, Elizabeth?

"Elizabeth is living proof that we have done the right things. I brought her back to God, in an effort to save her from herself as much as the perverted world she was growing up in. We lost her dear mother to cancer, and I am not sure that I made the best choices for her as a child...although at the time, it seemed that way. I sent her away to boarding school...a good one...but I think she would now agree that there was something missing in her life...a proper family and home...and she was struggling. It coincided with me meeting Michael Winstanley by chance, now our Archbishop of course, and he showed me the way. It was difficult at first...I think we all now realise how difficult it is to guide our loved ones down the right path...but she is a fine wife and mother now and thanks me for being strong enough to save her. That is a fitting epitaph, if ever I need one."

"Does criticism bother you?"

"Not if it is constructive. My government has restored full employment for all men capable of work and shifted the benefit system to support families...saving millions at the same time I might add. We do not have a generation of disaffected young people who can't find anything useful to do...we have a national service system that means everyone does their bit and learns how to be a useful part of society, whilst saving even more money. Our health service and education systems are the top of the international league tables, and they are cheaper than anywhere else, because we are all working together. The old ways weren't working and we broke the mould...it is always going to upset some people. But all the polls and our election results show that the vast majority of people support us. And as I said, other countries are starting to follow our lead...I am very interested in what President Rosen is doing in the United States...it is not pure Reformism but she has taken some of the more basic economic principles and we are seeing them working again...so when we receive criticism I try to turn people towards the results, because it is the results that matter."