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University of Warwick institutional repository: http://go.warwick.ac.uk/wrap A Thesis Submitted for the Degree of PhD at the University of Warwick http://go.warwick.ac.uk/wrap/4527 This thesis is made available online and is protected by original copyright. Please scroll down to view the document itself. Please refer to the repository record for this item for information to help you to cite it. Our policy information is available from the repository home page. God and Mrs Thatcher: Religion and Politics in 1980s Britain Thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy September 2010 Liza Filby University of Warwick University ID Number: 0558769 1 I hereby declare that the work presented in this thesis is entirely my own. ……………………………………………… Date………… 2 Abstract The core theme of this thesis explores the evolving position of religion in the British public realm in the 1980s. Recent scholarship on modern religious history has sought to relocate Britain‟s „secularization moment‟ from the industrialization of the nineteenth century to the social and cultural upheavals of the 1960s. My thesis seeks to add to this debate by examining the way in which the established Church and Christian doctrine continued to play a central role in the politics of the 1980s. More specifically it analyses the conflict between the Conservative party and the once labelled „Tory party at Prayer‟, the Church of England. Both Church and state during this period were at loggerheads, projecting contrasting visions of the Christian underpinnings of the nation‟s political values. The first part of this thesis addresses the established Church. It begins with an examination of how the Church defined its role as the „conscience of the nation‟ in a period of national fragmentation and political polarization. It then goes onto explore how the Anglican leadership, Church activists and associated pressure groups together subjected Thatcherite neo-liberal economics to moral scrutiny and upheld social democratic values as the essence of Christian doctrine. The next chapter analyses how the Church conceptualized Christian citizenship and the problems it encountered when it disseminated this message to its parishioners. The second half of this study focuses on the contribution of Christian thought to the New Right. Firstly, it explores the parallels between political and religious conservatism in this period and the widespread disaffection with liberal Anglicanism, revealing how Parliament became one of the central platforms for the traditionalist Anglican cause. Secondly, it demonstrates how those on the right argued for the Christian basis of economic liberalism and of the moral superiority of capitalism over socialism. The next chapter focuses on the public doctrine of Margaret Thatcher, detailing how she drew upon Christian doctrine, language and imagery to help shape and legitimise her political vision and reinforce her authority as leader. Finally, the epilogue traces the why this Christian-centric dialogue between the Church and Conservative government eventually dissipated and was superseded by a much more fundamental issue in the 1990s as both the ruling elite and the Church were forced to recognise the religious diversity within British society. 3 Acknowledgements I have accrued many debts in the writing and researching of this thesis: financial, intellectual and personal. First and foremost, this thesis would not have been possible without the generous grant from the Warwick Postgraduate Fund. I am also grateful to the Turner Exhibition Fund, the Royal Historical Society and the Economic History Society for providing additional finances towards my research. My supervisor Mathew Thomson has been an invaluable source of support and guidance throughout, and I am exceedingly grateful that, as a historian of medicine, he willingly took on a doctoral student researching religious history. Additional thanks must go to Prof. Jim Beckford and Prof. Maria Luddy who gave me helpful feedback on initial drafts. The department of History at Warwick has proved a stimulating and rewarding environment in which to be based, and I am especially grateful to the department for giving me the opportunity to teach in my second year. As a London-based academic, the Institute of Historical Research has been an invaluable resource and support network, as well as an ideal forum for presenting my work. Particular thanks go to all the staff at the Centre for Contemporary British History, especially Prof. Pat Thane. Gratitude must also go to all members of the postgraduate seminar and the History Lab for making me feel part of a young dynamic scholarly community during these years, in particular Kate Bradley, James Lees, April Gallway and Helen McCarthy. Outside the sphere of academia, I am indebted to Rogan, Bharji, „Smugla‟ Brown, Alex and Kate Filby, Victoria Lawrence, Sarah Sanderson and Katherine Wilson for their humour and friendship, and for providing moments of much-needed distraction. Wynton Marsalis has also proved an enduring source of inspiration, not least in forcing me to consider why the story of Mrs Thatcher and the Church would be of interest to a trumpet player from New Orleans. If a historian is wholly dependent on their archives, then this thesis is entirely indebted to the countless number of librarians and archivists who managed to unearth obscure and often uncatalogued material from their respective basements. Thanks must go to all the staff at the BBC Archives Centre, British Library, John Ryland‟s Library, Lambeth Palace Library and Manchester Central Library. There are a few archivists to whom I am especially grateful: Niall Cooper of Church Action on Poverty, Andrew Riley at Churchill College, Paul Webster at Liverpool City Archives and Meg Whittle at Liverpool Catholic Cathedral archives. The fact that this help was always coupled with a genuine interest in my work made these research trips even more enjoyable. I am also extremely grateful to those who gave me permission to access this material, including the Archbishop‟s Council, the Rt Revd Nigel McCulloch, Derek Worlock‟s Literary Executors and especially Lady Grace Sheppard, who not only granted me full access to the David Sheppard archive, but also proved a most stimulating and informative interviewee. Oral testimonies proved a vital part of the research process and I am incredibly grateful to the following who agreed to participate and for their patience and hospitality: Chris Beales, Ronald Bowlby, Richard O‟Brien, Rev. Tom Butler, Prof. David Martin, Rev. Eric James, Tony Kilmister, Dr Rev. Edward Norman, Rev. David Jenkins and all those who took part in the Faith in the City witness seminar in 2006. I am also indebted to Veronica Morton, Robert Dale, Kathryn Dagless and James Moore for being excellent hosts on research trips in various parts of the UK. Special thanks must also go to John and Kerry Fanning at La Muse Writers‟ Retreat in France for providing an idyllic setting in which I was able to collate my ideas and mould my thesis into shape. Steven Clarke has been a constant source of support, humour and encouragement, not least in offering to read the final draft, which he did with great proficiency and genuine interest. My greatest thanks must go to my parents. Their support and belief in me has been unfailing and I am forever in their debt – it is to them that this work is dedicated. While 4 immersed in the archives, I also encountered my own connections with this research, stumbling across former tutors, vicars, schools and parishes along the way, including my own great-cousin, the Rev. William Filby, the former Archdeacon of Horsham, Sussex. Unfortunately William did not get to see the final product, on which I‟m sure he would have had much to say. In so many ways William embodied what the Church of England represented in the 1980s – and so it is to him that this work is also dedicated. 5 Table of Contents Abstract 3 Acknowledgements 4 Abbreviations 7 List of Figures 9 List of Appendices 10 1. Introduction: God and Mrs Thatcher: the Interrelationship Between 12 Religion and Politics in 1980s Britain 2. Public Anglicanism: the Role of the Established Church in a Secular Plural 27 Nation 3. Statements of Faith: The Christian Response to Thatcherism 64 4. Mobilising the Moral Will of the Nation: Church, Parties and Voters 100 5. Private Faith and Public Doctrine: The Christian Roots of the New Right 136 6. Conviction Politician: Constructing the Thatcherite Theology 176 7. Epilogue: The Death of Protestant England and the Birth of Multi-Faith 212 Britain: 1990s. 8. Conclusions: The State of Faith and the Faith of the State 232 Appendices 238 Bibliography 259 6 Abbreviations BCC British Council of Churches BCP Booth-Clibborn Papers, Manchester BI Borthwick Institute, York BP Blanch Papers, York BSRP Board for Social Responsibility Papers CAA Christian Action Archives CAP Church Action on Poverty CAPA Church Action on Poverty Archives CATWU Church Action with the Unemployed CCA Churchill College Archives, Cambridge CND Campaign for Nuclear Rearmament COSPEC Christian Organisations for Social, Political and Economic Change COPEC Conference on Christian Politics, Economics, and Citizenship CPAG Child Poverty Action Group CPS Centre for Policy Studies CRRU Community Race Relations Unit, British Council of Churches CSM Christian Socialist Movement CUF Church Urban Fund DHSS Department of Health and Social Security ECUM Evangelical Coalition for Urban Mission EVSSG European Values Systems Study

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