Need for a moral framework and new people to act for the common good: Bishop Michael Nazir Ali on BBC Newsnight
Bishop Michael Nazir Ali was interviewed on BBC2 Newsnight by Gavin Esler on the implications of the revelations on MPs’ Expenses.
MNA I think there is an absence of a moral framework for public life and that has somehow to be recreated. When there is an absence of that kind of moral framework, then you get people acting for themselves. We have seen this in the financial situation that we are facing where institutions and people have acted for themselves, not for the common good. We are now seeing this in the political situation. Political leaders have a responsibility here to recreate confidence in the system, but to work in such a way that it is not just for party political advantage.
Q. Where do you see the moral leadership coming from? From Gordon Brown or David Cameron or even from the Church of England?
MNA Well, it cannot come only from them of course. As we saw from the debate about the Gurkhas, the public had to make known what it wanted and the government more or less had to respond to that. So it will come from charismatic figures, from popular movements. I would hope it also came from the church, not for its own sake, and not to moralise, but actually to say we must strengthen the democratic system. It is the responsibility of political leaders to do that. That may of course result in a renewal of the sort of people involved in the process. You do not just want a repeat of the same old story.
Q. You sound quite optimistic, that this wave of public revulsion might lead to something good or better.
MNA Well it must do so because the alternative is too horrible to contemplate. We do not want our public institutions in a melt-down.
Q. That’s where we are now isn’t it?
MNA Well it could be. It is seen by some people to be like that. I think there is more resilience in society.
Q How far do you think this may have gone too far? Should we perhaps show some more compassion to MPs. One MP Nadine Dorries said today that it is like a witch-hunt and she would not be surprised if someone dies through suicide.
MNA I think there is a real danger of scape-goating here: that what is characterizing much of society is now being focused on a particular institution. A few months ago it was the banks. Now it is Parliament. In fact all of us have to put our hands up and say “We have been encouraged in recent years to be self-regarding, even to be self-indulgent, and not enough to recognize the need for the common good to be kept in view."
Q You have made it clear that there is the appetite for change. There clearly is among the public. Where do you really see leadership for change? You want the political leaders to do what?
MNA Whatever else they do, the democratic institutions must be able to survive and to be strengthened. I am not a politician so I do not know what sorts of steps they may want to take. Certainly, the reform of parliamentary processes is the minimum. I know things are happening there. I would have said we need new people in politics, new kinds of people, new people in Parliament. Whatever else happens there will be an election in a year’s time. All political parties must think about how they are going to have fresh thinking and fresh faces in Parliament next time.
Thank you very much
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