Bonkers fundamentalists and a question for Mr Derek Thomas
In a recent post I raised the question of why such an apparently decent man as Derek Thomas, the Conservative hopeful for St Ives, would want to represent the Nasty Party.
The St Ives Conservatives website provides a clue to the answer. After an impressive list of Mr Thomas’ good works – a list which makes you wonder, What the hell is this man doing with the Nasty Party? you get this statement from him:
Furthering the Conservative cause is increasingly important to me as the core values of Conservatism sit most comfortably with my personal faith. Many new ideas and new values have been adopted by this nation in recent decades and where traditional values have been discarded our communities have declined. The Conservative Party’s direction of travel and our core values provide a basis for leading the nation towards stronger, healthier, more caring communities.
I must confess that I haven’t an inkling of what all this is supposed to mean, but it would be of help to voters if Mr Thomas would decode it for us. Except that he is a Christian, I don’t know just what variety of Christianity Mr Thomas’ ‘personal faith’ might be. ‘Where traditional values have been discarded our communities have declined’ – which values and communities? It’s just a little bit scary when politicians start bringing their ‘personal faith’ into politics – just in case they turn out to be bonkers fundamentalists.
In a recent post I challenged Cornwall’s Tory candidates to tell us if they agreed with shadow home secretary Chris Grayling’s remarks that people who run bed and breakfast in their own homes should have the right to reject homosexual guests. Is,this, perhaps a Conservative ‘core value’ Mr Thomas shares, or not? I think we should be told.
