Preacher tells politician “it’s the devil’s territory”
Former Conservative MP Nick Fletcher has revealed how he no longer sits on the fence as it’s
“the devil’s territory”.
One of hundreds of Tories who lost their seats to a Labour landslide in the UK 2024 General Election, the 52-year-old businessman represented the Doncaster constituency of Don Valley from 2019-24 courtesy of the ‘Red Wall’ collapse provoked by Boris Johnson’s Brexit agenda when rock-solid Labour voters across the north of England deserted the party.
Meeting up with him for coffee near his home, he told me how a young preacher at his church had challenged him.
“He said there is a heaven and a hell – and a fence in between, which even many churchgoers are apt to sit on. But the devil owns the fence, the preacher insisted.”
A change of mind
It changed his mind about his voting pattern in the House of Commons. Twice in the past he had abstained on issues.
“But after that I never abstained again.”
He was sharing this story in the context of a question I had asked about Israel, to which he replied:
“Israel has a right to defend itself. It’s as simple as that. When we were bombing Dresden in World War II, there were no doubt thousands of innocents involved, though few would have seen it; whereas today there’s a sense in which we see too much, and images can too easily be misused.”
Quoting Spectator writer Douglas Murray, he added:
“If your house is burning, you don’t put half the fire out.”
Having said that, Nick hasn’t done much fence-sitting since taking up politics. He testified to his faith in his maiden speech to Parliament and has been doing so ever since. He spoke then (in March 2020) about the importance of good role models, of teaching kids that there’s a right way and a wrong way, of his pride in the Pilgrim Fathers heritage of his constituency 1 and of how winning his seat was nothing short of a miracle. (Labour had held the seat for the previous 100 years.) He went on:
“I believe in miracles, and I believe in God. It is the reason I believe I am here – not to judge or condemn, but to listen, to help, to be kind, to forgive and forget… Let’s keep room for God in this place. I believe Christ is the greatest role model anyone can have.”
Telling the truth
And as he put it so well over his second cup of coffee:
“If I want to be a nice guy, I’ll tell you what you want to hear. But if I want to help you, I’ll tell you the truth.”
He appreciates, however, that as a politician, he won’t win many votes if he keeps telling people they’re all sinners. Nevertheless, we don’t help anyone by being people-pleasers and he quotes American orator Thomas Sowell in saying:
“There can be nothing more dishonourable than misleading the young.”
Nick equates the Pharisees, the religious leaders who opposed Jesus, with the elite of our society who use big words to emphasise their superiority whereas Christ mixed with rich and poor alike.
Nick spent time in Parliament challenging the constant efforts to legislate in favour of minorities like the LGBT and trans movements – even pointing out the “disgusting” nature of some material that was flooding into schools. Growing up in the village where I now live, he wanted to be a fighter pilot, but realised he couldn’t when it was discovered he had a ‘lazy eye’. He didn’t expect legislation to be passed to enable him to fly.
The Brexit vote
In terms of his election to parliament, Nick acknowledges the help of the BBC – by which he means the Brexit, Boris and Corbyn (2) factors. It was part of a protest against the liberal elite who “paid the price for using big words to put down people like me”.
He loved the time [former Prime Minister] Boris Johnson accompanied him around Doncaster market. “And the crowds loved it too.” Sadly, however, the new regime stopped the free movement of people from the EU while letting them come in from everywhere else. As he put it, people had voted for a Tory government (in 2019) and got a left-wing, liberal party putting forward policies that often had unintended consequences, undermining the family life for which they had once stood firm.
“Socialism looks good on paper, but it never works in reality; it destroys everything it touches,” he said.
Nick was brought up to believe that you shouldn’t say ‘no’ without thinking about it, nor say ‘yes’ just to keep the peace. “People don’t have the backbone to say no anymore. And ‘my truth’ has become the yardstick for so many, whereas, as a Christian, I know I am answerable to God who is omnipotent and gives me a reason to exist and something to get up in the morning for.
“Some scientists in recent centuries have given people a reason not to believe in God, and so they do as they please, leading to chaos. The current left-wing agenda has merely created division in our society, allowing people to seize on climate issues, for example, to trump concerns for our ultimate welfare and living lives that honour God.”
Musing over his future, Nick adds: “I can see that, if I remain in politics, I’m going to put myself in harm’s way.”
Along with his electrical business and developing a new product, Nick is also considering running for Doncaster mayor next year. He is born and bred in the city for which he obviously has a great heart. And there are important things still to be achieved – 7,000 people on the waiting list for council houses, for a start, along with ensuring that the currently grounded Doncaster Airport takes off once again, something for which he has been campaigning throughout his term of office. Nick’s faith was initially nurtured from his parents. He joined the youth group at the church where they worshipped and recalls how they organised coaches to hear Billy Graham at Sheffield’s Bramall Lane in 1985. But to his great regret, Nick subsequently sought solace in
business and other avenues of so-called fun until – aged 38 – he finally committed his life to Christ.
“I never thought I was good enough, but then I realised I never will be good enough; that only through Jesus bearing my sins could I find a purpose for living.”
And what a difference it made. “He has given me so much strength,” Nick acknowledges with grateful thanks to the Lord.
While serving in parliament, he ran the 2021 London Marathon and is about to contest the Great North Run, along with his son James. He also has a daughter, Lucy, and is married to Gail.
As a runner myself, I pray that Nick will continue full speed ahead as he runs the race to which Jesus has so clearly called him.
Story by Charles Gardner
1 Many of them, including William Bradford and William Brewster – key founders of the United States
– were from the Doncaster vicinity
2 The former Labour Leader who failed to seriously address antisemitism within the party
Photo attribution: Public Domain
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