Faith in Britain

a Christian social order derived from the still more fundamental Christian postulates that Man is a child of God and is destined for a life of eternal fellowship with Him'.27 In Christianity and The Social Order, Temple argued that social justice based on Christian principle should be enshrined in British social policy. He chaired the team of investigators who in 1938 produced a report into unemployment, Men Without Work,28 and would have shared Tawney's (see p. 22) view that unemployment was an involuntary, structural phenomenon. As early as 1927 he argued for a 'Universal Living Income' (not just a 'living wage'). Many of his views were foundation pieces in the creation of the Welfare State. Perhaps when state welfare became an integral part of post-war national identity the Church's work appeared done. Frank Field argues in The Politics of Paradise that at the time Temple was writing 'the Christian message was only too clearly understood, and the failure to embrace it stemmed from the revolutionary change it requires of us, rather than a confusion about what the message was'.

However, a clear Christian critique of social ethics disappeared from political thinking. What there was seemed largely time-warped and without a clear definition until David Sheppard and Derek Worlock and others from the Seventies onwards began to grapple again with social and political ethics. One manifestation of this was the publication, in 1985, of the Church of England Board for Social Responsibility report, Faith in the City.29This element of Christian thinking has once again been called in aid by Labour and many of its recommendations on the alleviation of poverty have been incorporated into their programme.

Temple's three principles - freedom, fellowship, service - would form the bedrock of thinking and motivation in the work of an MP such as Birkenhead's Frank Field.

But in today's Parliamentary Labour Party Field is a rarity, not least because he is a Christian. His courage in speaking out on a whole range of issues, from the role of trades unions in determining the selection of Members of Parliament, to his assertion in Parliament that embryo farms would be created to facilitate the destructive use of human embryos, has made him a target for Labour's Left. He has been subjected to regular attempts to deselect and discipline him for his outspoken views.

Field's consistent option for the poor, which dates from his days as Director of Child Poverty Action Group, should make him one of the Labour Party's foremost voices. Instead, he has been relegated to the position of maverick. His predicament has made many Christians suspicious that Labour is no longer a 'Broad Church' with room for them: so has Labour's imitative espousal of New Right policies such as abortion and embryo experimentation; and by advocating 'new and changing forms of the family'. Indeed, they have gone further, by removing the right of individual Party members to hold 'conscience' positions on these issues. In addition to making this a Party policy question there were even attempts at their 1990