Has an upcoming UK general election ever looked like such a pointless exercise as the one Catholics will be facing on 4 July. The Catholic vote does not seem to be sought after at all by anyone, and most party leaders and politicians are inordinately out of touch with Catholic thought.
Apart from, of all people, George Galloway, the maverick politician and TV pundit who made headlines this year by winning the Rochdale by-election and wrenching it away from Labour.
If you had asked me last week what I thought of George Galloway, I would have said he holds politically extreme views which are far from my own, and I do not completely disavow that view. But it turns out there is a much more endearing side to him, particularly if you are a Catholic.
In a <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/06/26/george-galloway-labour-reform-party-and-the-tories/"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">recent interview</mark></a> with everyone’s favourite small-c conservative and big-C Catholic, the <em>Daily Telegraph's</em> Tim Stanley, Galloway endorses Catholic social teaching and states that he believes in Jesus “with all my heart". To show his conviction and commitment, he comes out as pro-life, highlighting euthanasia as something he is against.
He then goes on to declare his love for the Latin Mass and mentions how he has spoken to Pope Francis about keeping it. That is not satire. The man who many thought had privately converted to Islam seems to <a href="https://catholicherald.co.uk/on-the-road-to-chartres-the-annual-pentecost-pilgrimage-has-lessons-for-the-wider-church/?swcfpc=1"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">have more of a sense of what practising Catholics want</mark></a> than many Cardinals.
Galloway describes the beauty of the Latin Mass as “poetry in motion” and states that he always fulfils his Sunday obligation and that his mother is a daily communicant. He also gives an acutely sensitive explanation of the complexities of Vatican diplomacy in a way that shows a deference to the Holy Father.
But George Galloway?! Come on, get serious! I hear you cry. But what are the other options, <a href="http://Going to the polls: a very difficult choice for conscientious Christians"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">especially for Catholics or any conscientious Christians</mark></a>?
Euthanasia is one reason Catholics find major political leaders impossible to reconcile with. Keir Starmer has recently called for euthanasia, showing he doesn’t just want to tax pensioners but also to end their pensions early. He has said that he is <a href="https://catholicherald.co.uk/labour-leader-keir-starmer-commits-to-assisted-suicide-vote-if-prime-minister/"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">personally committed to rolling out euthanasia</mark></a> in our health service and has the voting record to show it.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, a multi-millionaire one almost has to feel sorry for given the political tragedy of it all<strong>, </strong>has casually mentioned, as though the whole thing is nothing to worry about, that <a href="https://catholicherald.co.uk/uk-prime-minister-indicates-he-wouldnt-oppose-assisted-dying/"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">he is also not against euthanasia in principle</mark></a> and would, like Starmer, make time to propose laws to introduce it, if his party was to remain in power after 4 July.
While the Liberal Democrats, not content with their coalition support for cutting the benefits of the vulnerable, have taken strides in their disregard for the elderly and disabled by joining the call and stating that their party policy is for assisted suicide to be legalised.
None of the three major parties seem to be aware of the momentous cultural change that removing laws safeguarding the most vulnerable will have on our society. Introducing euthanasia into our medical system will <a href="https://catholicherald.co.uk/irish-bishops-totally-reject-proposal-to-legalise-assisted-suicide/?swcfpc=1"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">turn doctors into executioners</mark> </a>and make the elderly and unwell feel like a burden.
Moreover, every country that has moved to make the terminally ill expendable commodities has quickly found itself endorsing what would have previously been unthinkable, with the practice used in unimaginable numbers.
Belgium, an apparently civilised country, allows euthanasia for minors of any age. It also permits euthanasia for depression and other forms of mental illness. The Belgian Euthanasia Commission notes that “the failed suicide attempts made the people concerned aware that there was also another, more dignified way of ending one’s life". In other words, a teenager’s cry for help can lead to euthanasia.
Canada legalised euthanasia in 2016, quickly making the practice responsible for almost 5 per cent of deaths in the country. But what is perhaps most concerning, and telling, is that over a third of those opting for euthanasia said their decision was, in part, informed by a feeling they were a perceived burden on family, friends, or caregivers.
Reform UK’s “Contract With the People” seems tempted to stand up for traditional values, such as letting people live out their entire lifespans. But once you look into it a bit more deeply, it’s more of a nostalgic bid for “wasn’t it nice when kids used to go out and play after school", not mentioning, but clearly thinking, “and when everyone was white and spoke English".
Aside from the jingoistic overtones, there are good points in Reform's proposals that should be acknowledged. Plans for a transferable marriage tax allowance would incentivise the institution, a blanket 20 per cent VAT cut for independent schools would keep small, struggling Catholic schools open, and encouraging free speech at universities would <a href="https://catholicherald.co.uk/police-escort-again-needed-at-manchester-university-to-protect-pro-life-speaker-from-screaming-pro-abortion-mob/?swcfpc=1"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">stop the no-platforming of Christian views</mark></a>. But, ultimately, the trade-off to sign up to a party that often seems like BNP-lite is just not worth it for many Catholics.
The other parties—SNP, Plaid Cymru, the DUP—may represent good local politics but are geographically limited in becoming the government, and the Green Party is also big on assisted suicide (while bizarrely calling for nature to be recognised as an actual person in their Rights of Nature Act).
All of which leaves that one Catholic-friendly voice calling out in the wilderness of Rochdale. Unfortunately, Galloway’s party is not fielding a candidate in Islington North, the constituency I am obliged to cast my proxy vote in because of my shared housing choices in my late twenties; but if they did: they would certainly have my vote. I am left with little choice, and while Jeremy Corbyn did not get my vote last time, he will this time, because if George Galloway has taught me anything, it is that you never know when a socialist might end up articulating your religious views.
We need independent voices in the Commons among what is being predicted by the tabloids as looking like a Labour “super majority”, which will also likely be super uninspiring and super incompetent as a range of centrist and unqualified new Members of Parliament descend upon the House of Commons like the first day of secondary school. <br><br>More importantly, we need Catholic voices who stand up against a culture of death. And wouldn’t it be great to have George Galloway waxing lyrical about the Latin Mass during Prime Minister’s Questions.<br><br><em>Photo: Leader of the Workers Party of Britain George Galloway speaks during his party's manifesto launch at the Voco hotel in Manchester, England, 19 June 2024. The Workers Party of Britain (WPB), founded in December 2019, has more than 150 candidates participating in its first general election, which reportedly represents the largest electoral challenge from a party to the left of Labour in UK political history. (Photo by Anthony Devlin/Getty Images.)</em>
