Sorry seems to be the hardest word

Amidst a non-stop media frenzy over one long weekend, Andy Burnham won the Makerfield by-election and, with support for his Prime Ministerial candidature growing (and support for the incumbent evaporating), Keir Starmer resigned. The new PM will be our seventh in ten years.

On a human level, it is hard not to feel compassion for Mr Starmer. His job is surely like no other in terms of both workload and scrutiny. The cost he and his family carry on our behalf is huge, and it was no surprise that his speech in Downing Street conveyed real emotion towards its end. The public seem to despise him more than any other Prime Minister in living memory, with flags, signs and a popular song all frequently used to specifically deride him.

On a societal and spiritual level, it is hard not to feel something of that anger for the damage done since 2024. The so-called ‘week of death’ in June 2025 perhaps represents this government’s moral nadir, as many Labour members supported assisted suicide and decriminalisation of abortion up to birth, all in one week. (They do not stand alone – other PMs and parties have acted wickedly too.)

As we’ve prayed in recent months for our political leaders here at IFB (and more broadly with other intercessors), we have asked God that, if our PM and perhaps even this government were to fall, their unrighteousness and God’s righteous judgement might be made clear. Perhaps we should keep praying for that, but if we’re honest, it hasn’t happened. There is genuine vitriol at the government’s duplicity and repeated U-turns, its lack of focus on poorer people, and its failure to properly reckon with the dangers of uncontrolled immigration. But no moral clarity, and certainly no apology from the man at the top.

And this is the real tragedy. Not Alaa Abd El-Fattah. Not the cost of living. Not the Taylor Swift tickets. Not Angela’s tax affairs. Not antisemitism. Not inheritance tax. Not two-tier policing. Not winter fuel payments. Not defence funding. Not Lucy Connolly. Not Henry Nowak. Not even Lord Alli, Josh Simons, Paul Ovenden, Matthew Doyle, or Peter Mandelson. But no responsibility. No shame. No sorry. Just excuses, self-righteousness, and shifting blame to others.

In this our Prime Minister clearly encapsulates the tone deafness and hard-heartedness of our nation at large. We carry on our evil as we tell ourselves we are better than others, whilst we distance ourselves from others’ suffering to undergird our own position. This selfishness defines our generation. Have our hearts become too hard to feel or care? It would certainly explain all our abuse of children.

We see more clearly now that one prayer God is answering is our long-repeated request to expose the full extent of our national heartlessness towards young lives. Out it has come, like an ever-rising flood of filth. It is hard to reckon with, but we are so grateful to God for the light that He has shone. Only when we clearly see the precious young victims of celebrities, rape gangs, child traffickers, high-ranking politicians, churches, institutions and abortion clinics can we mourn, fast, pray and repent as we should. This is a response that the Lord longs to see in His church first, and we continue to pray for ongoing revelation. But just what will it take for church and then nation to repent? We believe that only a real, searing outpouring of God’s Holy Spirit in national revival will do it. And there is a very real danger that we settle for something far short of that.

This so-called slow awakening or ‘quiet revival’, though joyous, is not enough, for our sins are grave, and the Lord’s wrath is being poured out now, with a greater measure just round the corner. The intense heat, lightning flashes and thunderclaps of recent days should remind us of His nearness and the heat of His holy fire. We desperately need His conviction to come upon us and convince us of our personal guilt. We must come on our knees to confess our own sin before Him, and then go and make things right with anyone we have wronged. ‘If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.’ (1 John 1v9). It is a very big ‘if’.

As one MP quipped at his swearing in, Andy Burnham is not the Messiah. The Messiah has already come. The Holy Spirit is here too, and we need a fresh visitation of His awesome, heavy power to convict us or we will remain blind to our wrongs and convinced of our rights. One Christian man formerly locked in abusive online addiction recently testified of his deep gratitude for the shock of a policeman’s knock at his door. God, please visit us this way before it is too late. It will be painful, but it will purify us!