Movement for Christian Democracy
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Christian Peoples Alliance
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| Abbreviation | CPA |
| Leader | Sidney Cordle |
| Founded | 1999 |
| Preceded by | Alan Craig |
| Headquarters | 13 Westmill Road, Hitchin, Herts, SG5 2SB |
| Ideology |
Christian democracy Social conservatism Euroscepticism |
| Political position | Centre-right |
| European affiliation | European Christian Political Movement |
| Colours | Violet |
| Website | |
| www |
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The Christian Peoples Alliance, CPA is a Christian democratic political party in the United Kingdom. The party was founded in its present form in 1999, having grown out of a cross-party advocacy group called the Movement for Christian Democracy. The first leader of the party was Ram Gidoomal. Alan Craig took over from him in 2004 and resigned in 2012. He was replaced by Sidney Cordle who is the current leader.
The roots of the party can be traced back to a movement founded in 1991 by Christians — both Protestants and Catholics — known as the Movement for Christian Democracy (MCD). It was founded in Westminster at a rally which drew an attendance of 2,000 people, with the motivation of providing an answer to increasing secularism. The three founding members were David Alton, Derek Enright and Ken Hargreaves, who were Members of Parliament representing the Liberal, Labour and Conservative parties respectively. While the tradition of Christian democracy parties was well established in many other parts of Europe, it was not introduced into Britain until the MCD movement of the 1990s. The movement existed as a cross-party advocacy group of sorts and although there were rumours in the media of it becoming a fully fledged political party it never materialised.
However, out of the movement its chairman, Dr Alan Storkey, and vice-chairman, David Campanale, led an internal consultation of MCD members that led to the formation of the Christian Peoples Alliance by leading MCD activists in 1999. Elements of proportional representation at local government level, brought about after the devolution of the Scottish Parliament and Welsh Assembly, saw the party gain confidence. By 2000, Ram Gidoomal had become leader of the party, a businessman and banker who had been awarded a CBE. He had converted to Christianity from Hinduism and is a Briton of Asian background. Gidoomal stood for election for the London mayoral election, 2000. Gaining 98,549 votes at the first attempt, the party surprised some, finishing fifth, ahead of the Greens in first preference votes. The campaign was committed to winning more jobs for Londoners, leading to The Times claiming, based on multiple choice results from a website run by New Statesman: "if Londoners elected a mayor purely on how his or her policies match the electors' views [...] the winner would be Ram Gidoomal". In November 2000, a candidate supported by the Christian Peoples Alliance stood at the Preston by-election, finishing seventh.
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