I first encountered James Macintyre when he interviewed me for the Catholic Tablet, which was backing a ban on shechita, otherwise known disparagingly as ‘kosher slaughter’.
With a picture of a baby lamb and captioned ‘the unkindest cut’ (from Shakespeare’s ‘Julius Caesar’), despite the five scholarly articles I had written in the past for that paper on subjects of Jewish interest, my point of view on this most important of Jewish laws fell on the deaf ears of the editor.
Soon, however, I was invited by Ruth Gledhill, formerly Religion Correspondent for The Times, to consider writing ‘scholarly articles on Judaism in the style of the Daily Mail’ for this publication, Christian Today.
So, just after the Manchester Bombing, in May 2017 I embarked on what was to become a very fruitful relationship with the world of online Christian publishing.
My initial articles were on the Book of Ruth and then on the ‘encounter’ of the 19th century English poet, Robert Browning, with the 12th century Spanish Jewish Bible commentator, Abraham ibn Ezra, in Lucca, northern Italy.
To my surprise, James was now also working for Christian Today as one of its editors. It soon became clear that James was a very gifted writer himself, and even when we didn’t agree (usually on Israel), he was at least willing to listen and let me say my piece.
For me, James’ finest hour at Christian Today was after I’d visited Magdalene College, Cambridge in January 2017 for the book-launch of my English-language version of the biography of the late Chief Rabbi of Haifa, Rabbi Shear Yashuv Cohen.
The book was subtitled ‘Between War and Peace’. Former Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, who had met the Chief Rabbi during his time in office, hosted and chaired the event in the Master’s Lodge, which was a lovely occasion, with friends even attending from Haifa.
At the same time, Churchill College, twinned with Haifa Technion, where I had sung in the choir, invited me to inspect their Churchill library, including antisemitic rubbish masquerading as scholarship by convicted Holocaust denier David Irving.
Cambridge University’s excuse for promoting Irving material, as they told me in writing, was that Manchester University also displayed Irving material. So this was now a question of British universities actually competing with each other to demonize Jews and Judaism!
James was on the case immediately. Not only did he pen a series of tremendous articles arguing against the promotion of Irving’s material, but he also arranged for me to be interviewed on the subject by the Guardian, which increased publicity for this scandal, and garnered even more support for our stance, spearheaded by Rowan Williams and myself.
James also reviewed my translation of the Chief Rabbi Cohen biography and his very positive thoughts on the subject were included by the Israeli publisher in their subsequent publicity for the book.
Much later, when James had already left Christian Today, he contacted me on Yom Kippur of last year, in order to express his sorrow at the murders of my friends at Heaton Park Shul. This meant a great deal.
Later I discovered that James had been a producer on BBC’s Question Time, as well as political correspondent for both the Independent newspaper and the New Statesman.
After James moved from Christian Today and started working for Christian Aid (I had hoped he would have a positive influence on that blinkered organization) we lost touch. However, I perked up on reading very positive reviews of his new biography of Gordon Brown by the Daily Telegraph, the London Times and on various podcasts.
I therefore decided to read the biography on Gordon Brown myself for a number of reasons.
Much has been made of Brown’s religious upbringing influencing his later politics. In addition, I wasn’t around during the end of Blair’s premiership when, after 10 years, in 2007, the reins were handed over to his Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown. No doubt I would learn a thing or two!
In fact, during that time I was living in Israel, teaching at the Church of Scotland School in Jaffa and being consulted on possible ties with the Church of England initiated by my neighbour, the Chief Rabbi of Haifa, on behalf of the Chief Rabbinate of the State of Israel.
So for all these reasons, I looked forward to James’ book. The book itself is beautifully written, with an unusually nuanced approach to political matters.
James is always after the facts and even explains the global financial crisis (escaped by Israel through the prudence of their financial sector) in an extremely detailed and knowledgeable fashion, coupled with an enthusiasm for the subject, all of which succeeds in drawing in the ordinary reader, such as myself.
I will point out a few features of the book that stand out for me. Chapter One is entitled ‘Son of the Manse’ and on page 18 it is noted that: ‘From the 1960s to the 1980s [his father] the Reverend Brown, who had learned Hebrew, visited Israel several times, representing the Church of Scotland and leading pilgrimages. Gordon, impressed by the reels of film his father brought back from the Holy Land, would remain a life-long sympathizer with Israel.’
In fact Gordon’s first article written in 1963, when he was 12, was published in a church magazine. It was entitled ‘Persecution’ and described the ‘unspeakable carnage’ experienced by the Jewish people at the hands of the Nazis. He added that the State of Israel was in ‘a vulnerable position’ and concluded that ‘our debt to the Jews is very great.’
It is brave of James to emphasize this point at the present time when people are ‘cancelled’ for less. My own experience of the Church of Scotland has mostly been in Israel when I became firm friends with the manager of their guest house in Jerusalem.
Gwen enjoyed my blog on everyday life in Israel and recommended me to the Church of Scotland School in Jaffa, next door to Tel Aviv. I was invited to interview for a job teaching English, but on arrival was actually asked to start a music department in the school, which catered for a mixture of Arab, foreign embassy and Jewish students. The Arabs were both Christian and Muslim, by the way! And they all loved music.
So, I started a choir, of course! Some Christian staff were very supportive of the Jewish State, which was funding their teaching endeavours, while others bought into the usual anti-Jewish tropes, even though most of the teaching staff, their colleagues, were Jewish immigrants, with PGCEs from the UK! The Christian Arab chaplain, with whom I worked on daily assemblies, became a firm friend.
My friend, Gwen, formerly the Scotland and Ireland manager of a leading UK insurance company, and now in charge of the Church of Scotland Jerusalem guest house, managed to turn around the finances of the Church of Scotland in Israel for the first time in its history. Gordon Brown himself would have been proud of this nearly impossible feat of economics.
However, while I was there, Gwen resigned from the guest house and from the Church of Scotland itself, and she ended up joining the ‘Wee Frees’ instead. This small church denomination asked me for help in editing their application for formal recognition as an official Church by the Israeli authorities. To be honest, the Israeli authorities in any case tended to lump all similar-sounding church denominations under one hat, so that the Wee Frees were regarded as being a subsection of the Church of Scotland, which was itself placed under the rubric of the Church of England! Goodness knows what the authorities would make of the much larger Greek Catholic, Greek Orthodox and Roman Catholic denominations, not to mention Sunni and Shia Muslims … !
It is maybe of interest to note that in 2007, when I was introducing the budding music students of Jaffa to the delights of ‘Yellow Submarine’, ‘Chattanooga Choo-Choo’ and such like, new UK Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, had just employed the daughter of Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, aged 24, as one of his economic advisers! So, though this is not mentioned in the book, maybe the Reverend Brown’s influence had left its imprint on his son in more ways than one.
Other passages that stand out in the book include Brown’s description of the death of his first-born baby, Jennifer, aged 10 days, resulting in ‘a blanket of sadness that never really leaves you (page 122).’
James employs particular empathy in approaching the subject of the death of a newborn, which is still taboo among many people in this country.
On page 143 a very interesting insight into the prejudices of a prominent section of the Labour Party is depicted in a interview for the book with Claire Short, dealing with her role as International Development Secretary, which coincided with the Iraq War.
Incidentally, I was informed at that time by the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Anglican vicar in Iraq that he had personally been shown weapons of mass destruction in that country, which he told me were later hidden from Western eyes. For this reason, he was in favour of the war against Iraq!
Canon Andrew White repeated this statement in favour of the war to a large audience when he gave a talk on the subject at Manchester’s Anglican Cathedral, hosted by the then Canon Theologian, Dr Andrew Shanks, who had just started a Jewish Christian Dialogue Group with me.
Short’s own prejudices were exposed in her interview with James for this book, when she attacked Blair and Brown for going ahead with the invasion, based on the fact that, in her view, Gordon’s ‘instincts are very pro-American (and pro-Israel).’ In fact, however, it is well known that Israel was very much against the Iraq war and far more concerned about Iran. Israel was concerned, then as now, with the instability the Iraq war might bring to the region. In any case, why should Blair and Brown not be pro-American and pro-Israel? Would she rather they were pro-Chinese, or pro-Nazi? Even to ask the question demonstrates the extent of anti-Jewish bias and blinkers in much of the political class, which has only worsened in the last 20 years.
I was in Israel when Tony Blair resigned after 10 years as PM in 2007 and Brown took over as leader. It appears that Blair was ‘forced’ to step down because of his support for Israel during the 2nd Lebanon War of July-August 2006. This was the very moment that I actually arrived in Haifa, which was the most battered area affected by the onslaught from Hezbollah.
A third of the population had fled south, abandoning their homes and taken in by Israelis elsewhere in the country. Much of Israel’s housing was old and did not include a safe room; this included the residence of the Chief Rabbi.
Much is made by James of Brown’s interest in the concept of Jubilee, when debts are cancelled. Actually this is a Jewish idea, found in the Book of Leviticus 25. James makes no mention of the Jewish origin of this concept, but incidentally I was asked to detail it for Dr Rowan Williams before his address at Glasgow Cathedral during Cop26 in 2021. In this venue, Rowan placed debt relief and green issues within their Jewish context, mentioning the fact that Jesus was born into a Jewish society and was therefore steeped in Jewish teachings on this subject.
The book cites extensively from Dr Williams himself and I’ll end with his thoughts on religion in the public square. This subject has become hotly contested after the very large Muslim religious gathering which took place recently in Trafalgar Square – after the publication of this book.
On page 262, Rowan writes that Gordon Brown ‘genuinely believes in a society where diverse moral perspectives are free to contest issues in public – with patience and respect … He does not expect such communities to be either protected corners for licensed eccentrics … or repositories of comforting traditions and cultural reassurances. So long as people of faith do not assume a right to dictate the outcome of an argument, they are welcome to join in robustly.’
Though acknowledging some interest in the Hebrew Bible and even the State of Israel as a concept at least, James’ book does not mention the growth of militant Islam which was encouraged by the very Labour Party policies of allowing ‘freedom of speech’ to run riot, started by Blair and continued by Brown, together with their disastrous wide-open immigration policy, which left many British people behind.
As for Rowan’s views on public religious debate cited above, try telling that to the Jewish community, murdered in shul while fasting, victims of arson and subject to despicable instances of antisemitic verbal and physical abuse on a daily basis. Not only are our words never heeded, but we are even penalized for expressing them.
This anti-Jewish behaviour has been encouraged and endorsed for decades by the BBC and other media outlets, teaching unions, universities, the NHS, local councils, democratically-elected MPs and, most worrying of all, by the statements from parts of the Church of England at regular intervals, especially in public forums.
Of this, James says nothing. This tendency to downplay and erase all mention or vestige of living Jews and living Judaism has been around for at least 30 years, beginning with the ascent of Labour 30 years ago. But what many of us had already experienced in schools, universities, the NHS and some sectors of the Church has now gone completely mainstream.
This does not detract from the fact that James is a very talented writer, a gifted human being and a generous friend. So, here’s a thought. Maybe James’ next book could tackle some of these issues. But would anyone dare to publish such a book? That is the question. He would not have to look very far for evidence!
In the meantime, I heartily recommend ‘Gordon Brown’ by James Macintyre and have just lent my own copy to my rabbi to read over the Pesach period. The shul treasurer is next on the list. Unbelievably, he’s just told me that his daughter (back here for Pesach) is now head teacher at the very same Jaffa Church of Scotland school where, twenty years ago, I introduced music to the curriculum for the very first time.
To conclude, this book is as an extremely well-written description of Gordon Brown’s upbringing and work as Chancellor and Prime Minister from 1997-2010.
Gordon Brown: Power with Purpose, by James Macintyre is published by Bloomsbury and priced £17.50.