Lib Dems: ‘Christians cannot become Lib Dem MPs’

The Liberal Democrats have indicated that those who uphold Christian values cannot be party candidates.

In leaked legal papers, the party defended its decision to deselect former BBC journalist David Campanale by claiming his “expressed religious beliefs against abortion, gay marriage and legal sex change conflicted with the fundamental values set out” in the party’s governing document.

Mr Campanale is suing the Lib Dems for religious discrimination, after he was deselected as Sutton and Cheam’s parliamentary candidate for intending to vote according to his conscience on non-whipped votes such as pro-life issues.

No dissent

The political party admitted that Mr Campanale was told “the party of past prominent Liberal Democrats with Christian beliefs, such as Shirley Williams and Charles Kennedy, ‘was over'”, and even defended it as “a statement of fact reflecting the current policy platforms”.

But a Lib Dem source also claimed that the party’s “leader and a large number of our MPs are practising Christians”.

Former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams questioned whether the party really wanted to ostracise Orthodox Jews, Muslims, and Christians who “hold dissenting views”.

He warned that the “precedent is a worrying one, especially in a case where the candidate seems initially to have won the confidence of local people aware of his position”.

‘Out of touch’

The party is also demanding that Mr Campanale legally prove that “Jesus Christ is the way, the truth and the life”, claiming that the statement submitted as part of his religious beliefs is “outside the defendant’s knowledge”.

Speaking to The Independent, the award-winning ex-journalist said: “God needs no defence. He is after all the Judge. It’s whether the Liberal Democrats continue to be seen as out of touch in the dock of public opinion with the liberalism and tolerance of the British people.

“A lot of people back my Christian conviction that our nation’s liberties were built upon Biblical foundations and the great story of Christian struggle through the generations for the abolition of slavery, the rights of children not to be sent up chimneys and the existence of trade unionism.

“If the party rediscovered and celebrated that story and not ridicule it, voters would pay the Lib Dems greater attention.”

Discrimination

Only last month, the Liberal Democrats admitted to victimising another party member over her gender-critical beliefs.

Natalie Bird was subject to disciplinary action after wearing a top that defined a woman as an “Adult, Human, Female”. She was subsequently accused of sharing “transphobic material” and eventually suspended from the party.

After a three-and-a-half-year battle, the party now accepts that it discriminated against Bird because of her belief in biological reality.