The way in which people see those in leadership can be at odds with the way in which they wish to be seen. The following words are from the Conservative Party website in which it profiles its leader. The text in bold is my own emphasis:

“David Cameron became Prime Minister in May 2010 after a General Election in which the Conservative Party won almost 100 additional seats. He leads a Conservative / Liberal Democrat Coalition Government inspired by the values of freedom, fairness and responsibility…..David Cameron’s philosophy has always been making sure people are in control and that politicians are their servants, not their masters. His belief in social responsibility, not state control, as the best way to solve problems is already evident in the decisions he has made since the General Election. David Cameron has led a government that has set out bold action to deal with Britain’s deficit; established a radical programme of school, health and welfare reform; and set out a vision of building the Big Society by giving individuals, families and communities more power and control over their lives.”

The news that David Cameron met with the leadership of the Trussell Trust on Thursday is very welcome. It has been reported as a private meeting which presumably means that we will hear no more unless the PM chooses to make the experience public. The meeting comes because of a provocation from Stephen Timms on 22nd January:

“The Trussell Trust co-ordinates the fast-growing network, now numbering some 400, of church-based food banks, which between them provided food for half a million people, just between April and December last year. Will the Prime Minister be willing to meet representatives of the Trussell Trust to discuss the big challenges with which they are grappling?” The Prime Minister: I would be happy to meet them. We have listened carefully to the Trussell Trust. One thing that it wanted to see done by this Government and the previous Government was to allow food banks to be promoted in jobcentres. We have allowed that to happen. That has increased the use of food banks, but it is important to do the right thing rather than something that might just seem politically convenient.”

In case this is interpreted as the first time the idea of Trussell meeting with the Government had been mooted, the truth is that for over a year there has been a great deal of pressure for this to happen. Trussell have made it clear that they wanted to speak to the Government to report their experiences from across the country for some time, yet Iain Duncan Smith and Lord Freud have consistently refused to meet them and turned down invitations to see how foodbanks operate for themselves. The Government has been in power for nearly 4 years and since David Cameron moved into No 10 Downing Street the rise in foodbank use has been exponential. What a shame that our PM who seeks to be our servant needed to be pressed by a shadow Minister to take the meeting that his DWP Ministers have refused to agree to. The meeting came a few days after Cameron had expressed his views about the intervention by the Archbishop of Westminster, Vincent Nichols. He wrote a response for the Telegraph to defend himself and his Government against the charges levelled against them by the Archbishop.

“Archbishop Nichols’s claims that the basic safety net no longer exists are simply not true. Let’s get the facts straight. Yes, we made the difficult but correct decision that benefits should not go up faster than wages. But the safety net remains in place. If you’re over 25 and looking for work you receive £71.70 a week in Jobseekers’ Allowance – £6.25 a week more than at the last election. If you’re under 25 the figure is £56.80 a   week – £4.90 more per week than at the last election.”

It was clear from the interview with him that Vincent Nichols was not suggesting the Benefit System had been completely removed, but rather in the experience of many priests and him personally, that church members whose lives depend on benefits due to their low pay or inability to find a job, had found that these benefits were not sufficient to allow them to put food on the tables of their families. In addition to his own carefully worded response, David Cameron cannot disassociate his own leadership from those who he has placed around him such as Chris Skidamore MP who is a member of the No 10 Policy Board, which advises the Prime Minister, who is reported by the Telegraph to have said:

senior Church figures should not “lecture   from on high”. “If the Church wishes to donate significant wealth to those who need help then I’m perfectly happy if they want to make extra contributions,” he said. “But we live in a world where there are people earning over £500 a week, £26,000 a year, from benefits. “It is not only unsustainable, it is also morally wrong that people could earn more on benefits than in work. “That is why our welfare programme is returning people to work and by weaning   people off benefits, it is ensuring that they are living their lives to the full. We have got to make sure it pays to be at work.”

These snapshots appear to be at odds with the rather bold words from that Conservative Party website. If David Cameron truly wants to be known as a servant leader, then he needs to change his actions and become more focused on the needs of all in society, on the other hand if these words and actions are the true David Cameron, perhaps ahead of the next election the Conservative Party should to change their website.