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Good morning. With a hung parliament there is still a very great deal of uncertainty around. But one thing is certain. In due course someone will go to the palace because, though elected by us, they will first of all be the Queen’s first minister. This will then be brought home when the queen opens the new parliament and reads out her speech from the throne. This list of policies will be punctuated by the phrase “My government will..” The sovereign, as head of state, is a symbol of the country as a whole, and she stands as a reminder that it is the duty of any government to rule with the good of all in mind. Of course there are major differences between and within parties about the nature of this common good, but the role of the sovereign in our constitution keeps that crucial wider horizon in mind. In the words of the splendid prayer used daily in parliament, it means “leaving aside all private interests, prejudices and partial affections.” Eventually 650 members will be elected for the new parliament. What do we look for from them? The great role model here, I think, is Edmund Burke, the great 18th MP and philosopher. who can legitimately be claimed by both conservative and progressive forces. On the one hand he was a fierce critic of the French revolution, arguing that continuity and gradual change was far less destructive than radical upheaval. He had an organic view of society, hence his statement that society is a partnership “a partnership not only between those who are living, but between those who are living, those who are dead, and those who are to be born.”. At the same time he castigated some of the worst evils of his time. He regarded our policy towards America as unjust. He supported Catholic emancipation and said that the foolishness of English policies towards the |Irish would soon lose Ireland as it had the Americas. Perhaps his most important statement for us today however was what he told the electors of Bristol in 1774- that he was not their delegate simply to do what they asked but their representative. He owed them he said “his unbiased opinion, his mature judgement, his enlightened conscience”, and continued “They are a trust from Providence, for the abuse of which he is deeply answerable. Your representative owes you, not his industry only, but his judgment;” And the collect set in the Book of Common Prayer for this Pentecost week could have been specially composed with this in mind for the new government and MP’s as they face the major challenges ahead. It asks that the Holy Spirit, whose light teaches our hearts, might give us a right judgement in all things. With such uncertainty ahead that right judgement will be more necessary than ever.