Faith Communities

Lord Mitchell Excerpts

Tuesday 29th May 2012 Lords Chamber

[Lord Mitchell]

In thanking the noble Lord, Lord Sacks, for initiating this debate, I remind him that the second bus is less crowded, has more seating and is a much more pleasant experience. For my community—the Jewish community—Her Majesty’s reign has been a golden era. There are fewer than 300,000 Jews in the UK but we are prominent in many aspects of our national life, from the professions to the arts, science, academia, business, philanthropy and, yes, even politics. In this House alone, 10% of the Members are of the Jewish faith. Indeed, the leader of my own political party has a Jewish background and—who knows?—in the next few years we could have our first Jewish Prime Minister since Disraeli. All this has happened because this country is so tolerant and welcoming and so encouraging of its minority faiths to succeed.