After the mild controversy about the PM’s Christmas Message, and Jeremy Corbyn’s lack of one, I wondered what a Lib Dem PM’s Christmas Message might look like. This is what I came up with:
Britain is a country of many nations, of many cultures and of many faiths. But I do believe that as we celebrate Christmas, a deep-lying common faith that unites us all rises to the fore. It is a faith that unites Christians and Muslims, Sikhs and Hindus, Theists and Atheists. It is a faith in us. A faith in our capacity to build a national community here, on this island nation we call home, in which we all belong, and of which we can all take immense pride.
As one year turns to the next, my government will continue to work tirelessly to help you build that Britain. We shall approach the New Year with the same belief as we have the previous; that by empowering individuals to fulfil their greatest hopes and dreams, we can leave behind the Britain where our freedom to be who we ought to be is shackled by poverty, ignorance or conformity. We pledge to work for all those who celebrate Christmas this year with tears of frustration in their eyes, for whom our system is not working. To all those families celebrating Christmas in temporary housing, or those sleepless parents who’ve worried if their low pay check would stretch far enough this month, or those who have been bullied this year for the person that they were born to be, we are in your corner, we pledge to be your government.