It’s predictably depressing to read the headlines about another politician caught in a scandal.

In response to recent revelations about Mark Menzies, Matthew Parris suggested that the job of MP attracts those with an “enlarged appetite for status”, while Rod Liddle suggests that any party in power for long enough becomes "enmired in complacency, arrogance and corruption”.  Whatever the reasons for this common phenomenon, it reminds me of a call I hear regularly on the popular podcast: The Rest is Politics.

This show has fast become one of my favourites over the past year.  Alistair Campbell and Rory Stewart, both centrists but coming from opposite ends of the political spectrum, dissect the current political scene making positive arguments, sometimes disagreeing agreeably and calling out bad behaviour.  One of their regular suggestions is that every new MP is required to sign up to a code of conduct akin to the Nolan Principles for Standards in Public Life.

These standards, which are supposed to apply to anyone working in the public sector comprise: selflessness, integrity, objectivity, accountability, openness, honesty and leadership.

It feels like a no-brainer that these should be the standards we require of our elected politicians - and to be fair, there are many that demonstrate these qualities, but I find it genuinely baffling just how many examples there have been in recent years where this has clearly not been the case.  Some of our leading MPs have been shown to cross these lines again and again, and it’s hard not to feel that in some ways these standards are being eroded by some of those who are responsible for them.

Jesus, one of the most influential public figures in history, advocated leadership standards that were not a million miles away from most of these principles. His style has come to be known as “servant leadership”. In Matthew 27, following a squabble around which of the disciples should have the most power he instructed them;

“Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave— just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Time and again Jesus demonstrated his leadership through acts of humility, compassion and service.  In Philippians 2, Paul describes how Jesus took on the “very nature of a servant,” and “humbled himself by becoming obedient to death - even death on a cross!”

In one of his final acts of service he literally washed his own disciples’ feet at the last supper. He was teaching them how to love and serve one another, ahead of his ultimate act of humble sacrifice - to die on the cross.

Jesus advocated for honesty, integrity and transparency, and most of all humility.  When I see a successful leader in public life it is this quality, more than any other that I am looking for.  I’m often asking myself this question: Are they acting for the good of others or themselves?

 




 

Nigel Hemming is Senior Pastor of Winchester Vineyard Church