The Tory Mayor of a town council in rural England has said Christian influence in politics is “abhorrent”.
Steve Bucknell, town mayor of Royal Wootton Bassett Town Council, told The Telegraph it was “abhorrent” that Christian organisations and religion were “trying to influence politics”.
Council wants to fly transgender flag
The outburst comes after criticism of the town council for submitting a planning application to Wiltshire council to fly the pro-transgender ‘progress pride’ flag near the town’s war memorial.
The positioning of the flag by the Wiltshire town’s Cenotaph has been called “disrespectful” to veterans, with the council accused of “virtue signalling”.
Royal Wootton Bassett has an association with the armed forces, especially since the bodies of more than 350 Armed Forces personnel killed in Afghanistan were repatriated through the town from RAF Lyneham between 2007 and 2011.
One local said on social media that the council was “wasting money on woke c–p and sexual propaganda”, while another said: “It’s a flag that only represents a small minority of the country and excludes the majority. Only flags of towns, counties and countries should be flown.”
Violation of political neutrality
The Christian Legal Centre (CLC) claims the town council plan constitutes a violation of political neutrality laws under the Local Government Act 1986 and is vulnerable to legal action.
Andrea Williams, CLC’s chief executive, told The Telegraph: “It is deeply inappropriate to fly the progressive flag next to a war memorial, particularly in a town with such a profound military heritage. The cenotaph is a place of solemn remembrance for those who gave their lives in service to the nation, not a platform for contemporary political messaging.”
Mrs Williams added: “Section 2 of the Local Government Act 1986 prohibits local authorities from publishing material that promotes a politically controversial viewpoint.
“Flying the Progressive Pride flag in this context is not an act of neutrality but one of political endorsement. That makes the decision open to judicial review.”
‘Divisive, insensitive and illegal’
Stephen Green, national director of Christian Voice, was also quoted in the Telegraph. He added: “From NHS trusts to the police, schools, local authorities, politicians, civil servants, even the Crown Estate, it’s as if the whole establishment has fallen under a transgender spell from the pit of hell itself.
“It’s not only divisive, politically insensitive and illegal, but it’s an assault on truth and the created order, and shows how out of touch with both reality and ordinary decent people are those who lead us.
“I think they hope that by banging in about transgenderism with their Progress Pride flag, they hope to browbeat us all into acceptance so it’s no longer seen as a contentious issue.
“Well, dream on, because people are not as stupid as those in high office. I just pray they will all be booted out at the next opportunity.”
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Promoting transgenderism ‘harmful’
Ed Rimmer, the leader of the Reform UK group on Wiltshire council, told The Telegraph: “I think it [the Progress Pride flag] being centralised in a town on a public flagpole is not the right thing or suitable.” Wiltshire council planning officials say the flag is considered an advertisement, is not a recognised national or celebratory flag, and requires planning permission under the Town and Country Planning (Control of Advertisements) (England) Regulations 2007.
Fiona McAnena, director of campaigns at Sex Matters, the sex-based rights charity, said: “The people of this town are known for paying their respects to members of the armed forces who have died in service. It is obscene for the council to push its virtue-signalling ‘rainbow’ agenda into this solemn place.
“Many think that the Progress Pride flag represents kindness and inclusion when in reality it stands for the erosion of safeguarding, and the undermining of women’s and gay rights, as well as harmful practices in the name of ‘gender medicine’.
“Wiltshire council needs to reject this application and set a standard for local authorities in standing up to the noisy minority who think this will reflect well on the township of Royal Wootton Bassett.”
‘We honour those who serve’?
The motto of Royal Wootton Bassett Town Council: is ‘We honour those who serve’. But their proposed flag will honour those who spit in the face of God.
The council appears to be Liberal Democrat controlled, with many councillors elected unopposed. However, Mr Bucknell was the Conservative Party Candidate when he was elected in 2021, and then decided he was ‘independent’ when re-elected in 2025.
Stephen Green said: ‘Mr Bucknell was happy enough with Christian influence in politics when his Mayor Making Ceremony took place at St Bartholomew & All Saints Church in Royal Wootton Bassett on Thursday 15th May 2025.
‘But now he cannot cope when Christians criticise him for antichristian, woke policies, calling it “abhorrent” when Christian organisations and the Christian faithful exercise their prophetic voice. Then we are: “trying to influence politics”.
‘Flying the “progress pride” flag is to align the council with perverted men muscling in on women’s spaces and women’s sports and evil medics and surgeons medicalising and mutilating disturbed young people going through puberty who have fallen for lies on social media telling them they are the wrong sex, or “gender”. How can we remain silent in the face of such evil?
Mayor rejecting UK Christian foundation
‘For a Conservative, or whatever he is now, mayor to reject the Christian foundation of our United Kingdom and to deny the spiritual dimension and the authority of King Jesus shows the depth of the problem facing our nation.
‘If it is “abhorrent” when Christian organisations and religion are “trying to influence politics” that means Christian input is excluded from the public square, in a constitutionally-Christian nation. Secularists might argue that makes laws ‘neutral’, but seen through a spiritual lens, if laws no longer come from the throne of grace, they will arise from the pit of hell.
‘Our politicians simply cannot go on expecting to solve the challenges of a nation under judgment in their own strength.’
Christians cannot remain silent
The Lord told the prophet Isiaiah:
Isa 58:1 Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins.
And when the Lord’s people follow that command, the prophet Amos explains what happens:
Amos 5:10 They hate him that rebuketh in the gate, and they abhor him that speaketh uprightly.
To the wicked, then, we are abhorrent. But the Lord Jesus told his disciples:
John 15:18 If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you.
And why did ‘the world’, the ungodly, hate him?
John 7:7b … me it hateth, because I testify of it, that the works thereof are evil.
Pray for true leaders
Pray for able, humble, God-fearing, men of truth and honesty to be found in our land to lead us at this time when oppressive wokeness, antisemitism and Islamic ambition stalk our land. Pray the Lord will raise up leaders who will choose life, not death, when our Christian heritage is under attack from today’s unholy alliance of secularists, godless leftists and Muslims.
The Bible lays down this challenge to leaders in every age:
Deut 30:19 I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live:
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