Corridors Of Power: London Edition

Corridors Of Power: London Edition

LONDON -- There wasn't much good cheer for Prime Minister Gordon Brown coming from Britain's Anglican bishops this Christmas. One prelate after another used his seasonal message to denounce what the Bishop of Manchester, Nigel McCulloch, called the Labour government's "morally corrupt" strategy for economic recovery.

Before the holidays, Brown encouraged consumers to take advantage of slashed prices in the stores to keep the economy going. For the bishops, encouraging a spending spree was the wrong approach. Bishop Stephen Lowe of Hulme lamented that "the government isn't telling people who are already deep in debt to stop overextending themselves, but instead is urging us to spend in order to revive the economy."

As religious leaders, the bishops' unusually outspoken comments had considerable impact. But the 26 top episcopal incumbents are also members of the House of Lords, the upper house of the British parliament. So even if as so-called "lords spiritual," they don't sit on either the government or opposition benches, but in a section all of their own, their criticism of the government inevitably had political overtones. The opposition Conservative media have had a field day with it.

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