Pilgrim Ways

was also to be found in his dealings as a lawyer and as a judge, much to the frustration of his opponents who wanted to undo him by pinning false charges of judicial malpractice and corruption to him. In the end, they abandoned this approach because More‟s reputation stood so high that they assumed that no-one would believe them.

Thomas More is considered to be one of the greatest protagonists of Common Law and he passionately believed that it was through the formulation and interpretation of just laws that true social justice might best be established and peaceful relations be created within and between nations. He reconciled his advocacy of the common good through a fair and transparent judicial system with the constant practice of charity. Contemporaries called this sworn enemy of favouritism, and implacable opponent of the grotesque creation of disproportionate privileges for the powerful, “the patron of the poor.” These same contemporaries described More‟s family as a “Christian academy”, in which the cultivation of learning and the consideration of morality and ethics were daily fare. He was a much imitated educator and a champion of women‟s education. Despite holding high office he maintained a simplicity of life in his own household and insisted to those closest to him that they must not become infatuated with the baubles of office and the trappings of power.

More‟s handling of high office and his subsequent martyrdom strikes a discordant note in the world of modern politics. Collaboration and conformism have become hallmarks of the sophisticated world of career politics. Take your cue from the electronic instruction of a pager or a mobile phone, tailor your remarks to the on-message demands of party managers or whips, and never mind your conscience, just think about your preferment and the patronage which awaits you. They say that for the pearl to emerge from the oyster a bit of grit has to enter in. For thirty years in British politics I have despaired at the sometimes ruthless attempts to prevent the bits of grit from entering in. I have despaired at the feeble excuse that “I won‟t cause problems now but if I get just one more rung up the ladder, then I‟ll change things.” Invariably the only thing which changes are the politicians who, by the time they come tumbling back down the ladder, belatedly realise that they mis se Protector of Politicians Contrast all of this with Thomas More, who at the end of October 2000 was proclaimed by Pope John Paul II as the protector of politicians and all those in government. Contrast More with the bitter partisans reduced to paying off old scores. Throughout his extraordinary trials he preserved a sense of serenity and good humour. He held firm to his convictions while refusing to vilify those with whom he disagreed. And, at the block, at the very end, there was no valedictory speech denouncing others with hatred and venom but, instead, there was forgiveness and understanding. Political life is so often about personal aggrandisement and advantage. Its participants fall into two camps - the be‟ers and the do‟ers. The doer prefers public service to personal status. They pursue causes rather than careers. It is often instructive to simply ask the questions: what are a politician‟s causes? What are a politician‟s convictions? If they have none, you probably know all that you need to know about them.

Politics for Thomas More was never a matter of personal advantage or the accumulation of personal power. Instead it was rooted in the desire to serve. It was informed by the deepest impulses of citizenship: a sense of duty and an understanding of every person‟s responsibility to strive for the common good. Any understanding of More‟s rigorous intellectual approach to the study of law, history, theology, philosophy and the culture of his country reveals his abiding belief in the importance of formation: the formation of the mind and spirit as prerequisites for public service and high political office. The cultivation of virtue was, for More, an indispensable requirement for good governance. Two centuries after his death,