minute, begged, borrowed or stolen from other people," she said while describing her government. "It was successful because it was based on clear, firmly-held principles." A devout Methodist, she further defended the principles as being grounded in the Christian Bible: "I believe that by taking together these key elements from the Old and New Testaments, we gain a view of the universe, a proper attitude to work and principles to shape economic and social life. We are told we must work and use our talents to create wealth." Her thinking on the subject was influenced by Keith Joseph, sometimes considered the "intellectual leader" of modern British conservatism and the man Thatcher called "my closest political friend." Joseph had developed an intellectual critique of the reigning postwar and Keynesian consensus and criticized the "consensus politics" that continued to promote it. In 2007, the British Prime Minister, Gordon Brown announced he too was "a conviction politician" after private talks with Thatcher in a 10 Downing Street visit. He was criticised for the gaffe as being inappropriate for a Labour Party politician to identify with the 81-year-old former Conservative prime minister. In the US, Democratic Senator Paul Wellstone was a major proponent of conviction politics from the left, promoting peace, environmental and labor protections, and health care. After Wellstone's death in 2002, his longtime aide and campaign manager, Jeff Blodgett, founded Wellstone Action, which promotes conviction politics through education and training. Virginia Representative Tom Perriello explicitly ran his successful campaign based on "conviction politics." He argued that a politician who acts on principle is more trustworthy than one that acts on electability, and decried pandering to voters. There is interaction between religious commitment, engagement, and strong moral convictions in determining electoral outcomes. There is a connection between voters' political behavior and their moral convictions. Criticisms The conviction politics practiced by George W. Bush has been called a "hard ideology" with "religious and chauvinistic underpinnings" and "contributed to the call by Muslim fundamentalists to a broader jihad" that has "redefined the war on terror and alienated Arab and Muslim public opinion." Critics of Thatcher's conviction politics say it "burst apart the old consensus" and has "fostered dissensus." Some critics have even said that conviction politics, especially in the US, are "theological politics." See also Identity politics Racial politics Testimonial party References Political terminology Political neologisms Margaret Thatcher