Earlier this week, I attended a hustings event at St.George's Church, organised by the Christians and Candidates initiative and chaired by Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali, the former Bishop of Rochester.

 

I haven't previously taken part in a public hustings, so I didn't entirely know what to expect.  As it turned out, I thoroughly enjoyed myself, and found the whole experience really interesting and worthwhile.

 

Given the background to the event, the questions put to us candidates were often very different from those we usually encounter as we're out campaigning on the doorstep.  We got into some serious ethical and moral areas.  The fact that I for one was unused to these sorts of discussions during my political activities rather underlines the point that the organisation behind the event were making -  too often Christian considerations and beliefs are sidelined or marginalised.

 

Anyway, there was only a bit of heckling at the end, to remind us all it was still a General Election hustings.  And I think there was probably one thing all the candidates, despite their political differences, agreed on at the end of meeting - with his authority, complete grasp of the issues and professional management of the proceedings, it was just as well Bishop Michael was not standing as a Castle Point candidate!