Happy Easter – why do politicians try to ruin it?

The Christmas broadcast by the monarch was a 20th-century innovation made possible by the invention of the wireless. Since it’s a time of year when we are all saying “Merry” or “Happy Christmas” and “Happy New Year” to each other, political leaders can’t be blamed for joining in. After all, they send thousands of Christmas cards, don’t they?

The Easter message from the Prime Minister is a more insidious and recent innovation. An indication that the occupants of Number Ten, and inevitably their shadows in the opposition, have lost their reticence about inserting themselves into the private beliefs of the electorate. 

Whether you will be rejoicing that the son of God is risen from the dead or celebrating a more pagan Easter and the quickening of natural life that comes with springtime, or just trying to ignore it, our politicians want to cash in electorally on your ruminations.

Like many other difficulties in contemporary politics, the Easter question in this country can be traced back to David Cameron’s period in office. Gordon Brown is a son of the Manse but also a student rebel. Tony Blair, famously, didn’t “do God” as Prime Minister, even though he is a devout and questioning Christian. 

John Major and Margaret Thatcher went through the C of E motions required of them but largely kept their godly thoughts to themselves, especially after Thatcher volunteered her views on the Good Samaritan only being able to help out because he had cash. 

In Northern Ireland, “the Troubles” were predicated on sectarian divisions between Catholics and Protestants. Yet Christianity was barely mentioned in the tense days and nights, we spent camped outside Stormont Buildings covering the negotiations for what became known as the Good Friday Agreement to end the violence, signed on Good Friday 10 April 1998. There is only a hint of Christ-like resurrection of a country in what became known as “The Easter Rising” against the British in Ireland in 1916. 

David Cameron exhibited no such reservation when, less than one year into office, he chose to bless the nation with a Prime Ministerial Easter message. Perhaps he had no one to tell him it wasn’t the done thing. 

Perhaps he wanted to reassure anxious Conservatives that his modernisation programme was not a challenge to their traditional values. Perhaps it was an early ranging shot in what became the culture wars. 

It may have been a pre-referendum nod to the Christian Democrats that in spite of withdrawing from the European Peoples’ Party that he was still on their wavelength about Europe being a Christian entity.

On 24 April in 2011, Cameron, who’d once plagiarised Boris Johnson to say his religion oscillated faintly like radio reception in the Chilterns, turned up the volume on his faith. 

The Prime Minister attested that “Easter is a time when Christians are reminded of God’s mercy and celebrate the life of Christ. In the Gospel of Mark, Jesus taught us to love God and love our neighbour. He led by example and for millions of us his teachings are just as relevant now as they were in his lifetime… It teaches us about charity, compassion, responsibility, and forgiveness. No matter what faiths we follow, these are values which speak to us all.”

There’s been no stopping them since. Easter messages have become a fixture in British politics, conveniently a habitual election season in the UK. Their platitudes are usually spiced with topical references to the big news of the moment. 

In subsequent addresses, Cameron claimed Easter was about “responsibility, hard work, charity, compassion, pride in working for the common good”. True to her brand, his successor, the vicar’s daughter Theresa May, was more restrained opting for an alliterating triple “compassion, community and citizenship”.

Amusingly she and her Labour opponent were cross with the politically correct National Trust for changing the name of its “Easter Egg Trail” to the “Cadbury Great British Egg Hunt”. Tories decried the dropping of “Easter”, which is of course is not a Christian word. The atheist Jeremy Corbyn complained, “It upsets me because I don’t think Cadbury’s should take over the name of Easter”. The Cadbury family tried to dampen the excitement by noting that the founder of their Chocolate business was a Quaker, who didn’t celebrate Easter. 

For the last two years, Britain’s political leaders have had it easy at Easter, filling their messages up with the pandemic, the wonders of the NHS and the need for social distancing. Their most challenging moment came in 2020 urging restraint when over-zealous police forces tried to clamp down on the purchase of Easter Eggs because they judged them “non-essential items”. 

Orthodox Christians are celebrating Easter a week later this year because of the dictates of the Julian rather than the Gregorian calendar. That won’t stop the horrors in Ukraine from providing sure-fire content for Boris Johnson and Keir Starmer, compared to the delicate topics of celebrations, poverty and Christian charity.

Members of the Ukrainian diaspora, notably in North America, are already using one national tradition to raise funds and express solidarity with the Ukrainian cause. There is renewed interest in the ancient Ukrainian custom of Pysanky, ornately painted eggs. The intricate designs are written on the eggs in beeswax and then dipped successively in different coloured inks before the raw contents are blown out. 

It is easy to see why Pyansky has become a rallying point. The myth is that each egg created represents another link in the shackles of an evil monster chained to a rock. The practice was also banned during the Russian communist Soviet era. 

It was cancelled last year due to Covid, but this year President Biden is going ahead with the annual White House Easter Egg Roll. American politicians have always been keen on the profane side of Easter, which takes its name for Eostre, a pagan goddess associated with springtime.

They promoted the Easter Bunny, a version of the “March” hares who become more visible at this time of year. Dolly Madison, first lady to the fourth President James Madison, is credited with inviting children to join in an Easter egg hunt as early as 1814. The tradition of “rolling” eggs comes from old Europe. In parts of Britain “Pace eggs” are still rolled — the eggshells first being boiled wrapped in onion skins to achieve a golden, mottled colour. 

The Egg Roll was moved on to the South Lawn of the White House in 1878, after complaints about the grass around the Capitol being scuffed up. In 1954, Mamie Eisenhower ordained that black children should also be invited. 

Latterly invitations have been by application and public lottery. The Obamas linked the Egg Roll to promoting child literacy. The Trumps introduced a rather sinister-looking Easter Bunny, of a piece with Melania’s gruesome Christmas decorations. 

Easter is a double Bank Holiday for all in the UK, affording a four-day weekend for many. To me, it is an introspective point in the year and a chance to enjoy the change in the seasons in nature. It is also a chance to think about the Christian history and values which have shaped a large part of the human world around us. 

I’m not going to come over like Private Eye’s Reverend J. C. Flannel, the Today Programme’s Thought for the Day or a Prime Minister, but — if you are celebrating — Happy Easter!