Tory Catholic seeks to return‘faith, flag and family’ to heart of party philosophy

BY CHRISTINA FARRELL
FORMER Prime Minister John Major associated his party with an image of a forgotten Britain – maids cycling through the mist, warm beer and cricket on a summer afternoon – and this week an influential group of MPs launched their campaign to bring the Conservatives back to more traditional territory of “faith, flag and family”.
Led by Catholic political heavyweight Edward Leigh, a group of Tory MPs are fighting for their party to reintroduce religion into its political thinking, insisting that Christianity is part of “our history and our culture”.
In a surprising intervention in the party leadership race the 25-strong group says that the Tory party has deserted Conservative Britain with a resultant loss of voter confidence. It will be agitating in the coming weeks for its preferred candidates, likely to be David Davis and Liam Fox.
According to a report in The Times newspaper this week the so-called Cornerstone group of MPs will use the leadership contest to force a rethink on Tory principles energising the party around its core values and steering Conservative thinking back to the traditions and institutions of ordinary people.
In a pamphlet issued by Cornerstone, Mr Leigh defended moral values and the importance of marriage for the well-being of children.
“Modern politicians fight shy of talking about religion,” he said. “They fear they will be accused of moralising... of setting themselves up for a fall. Many even argue that politics should be morally neutral, and political debate is the poorer for it. Christianity is part of our history and our culture.” He added: “Tory values are not dead, nor is Tory England. Both lack a voice. We have become too concerned with being on-message, and not with the message itself. Faith, flag and family are at the heart of Tory thinking.” Supporters of Cornerstone include John Hayes, a former member of the Shadow Cabinet, Owen Paterson formerly chief aide to Iain Duncan Smith — and William Cash.
The group is critical of the party’s reliance on focus groups in the election and says it shied away from defending tax cuts, family values and public service reform.