Christian People’s Alliance sinks quietly below the horizon

The overtly religious vote in the London mayoral elections has dropped consistently since the first attempt to gain power for a Christian party was made in 2000.

The Christian People’s Alliance (CPA) — the only Christian party running — only managed to net 1.6% of first preference votes and did not even gain a seat under the proportional voting system. In the 2000 election, they polled 2.4% of first preference votes.

Their aspiration had been to gain a seat under the proportional voting system, which they failed to do, but it enabled the BNP to gain its first seat at the London Assembly. The electorate seem not to have taken to heart the exhortation of the CPA’s leader, Alan Craig, when he said: “My message now to people who want to see a Christian world-view in City Hall, is: ‘Get on board!’ The train of Christian witness in political life is about to take a radical turn in its journey. It’s time to be part of this wonderful story of grassroots activism and service.”

Keith Porteous Wood, Executive Director of the National; Secular Society, recently took part in a BBC1 TV programme with Alan Craig. Mr Craig was opposing adoption by gay people and assuring viewers that the Devil was a real entity.

The core support for the CPA is thought to be the, largely black, evangelical churches, the size of which are almost certainly responsible for the capital’s proportion of churchgoers being slightly higher than for England as a whole.

09 May 2008