Lord Faulkner of Worcester was speaking on the motion to send to the Privy Council the Channel Islands Measure – the document completing the transfer of the islands’ link to the Church from Winchester to Salisbury.
The Lords adopted the motion without dissent but Lord Faulkner, one of the House’s Deputy Speakers, used an amendment, which he subsequently withdrew, to criticise the treatment of Mr Key by the Bishop of Winchester, the Right Rev Tim Dakin.
Mr Key was suspended as Dean over his handling of a safeguarding complaint in March 2013 and, although he was subsequently reinstated, the row that followed led to the impending change in the Channel Islands’ centuries-old link with Winchester.
‘It is demonstrably clear to me, as a member of the Ecclesiastical Committee, that a senior and distinguished member of the clergy, the Very Reverend Bob Key, the former Dean of Jersey, had suffered a grave injustice at the hands of the Church of England,’ Lord Faulkner said.
The Labour peer – who is also a vice-chairman of the Channel Islands All-Party Parliamentary Group – told the House that he had tabled his amendment, regretting the fact that Parliament’s Ecclesiastical Committee had not been able to see the report exonerating Mr Key, in order to give the Lords the chance to hear the background to the change of diocese.
Referring to the apology which the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Rev Justin Welby, later gave to Mr Key, Lord Faulkner said: ‘The most Reverend Primate’s generosity of spirit will come as no surprise to those of us in your Lordships’ House who admire him and regard him as a friend. It is a pity, though, that not everyone in the Church hierarchy has shown a similar understanding towards the former Dean’s difficulties.’
In a speech setting out the history of Mr Key’s suspension, Lord Faulkner told the House that the investigation into the Dean’s conduct, prompting what he called the decision to ‘strip him of his commission’, was published online before the Dean had the opportunity to comment on it, and that it remained on the diocesan website three years after the Dean’s reinstatement. The Bishop never met the Dean to discuss it, the Lords heard.
Lord Faulkner also referred to an advertisement placed in the JEP to publicise the subsequent inquiry conducted by High Court Judge Dame Heather Steel. It stated that a copy of her report, once complete, would be sent to the Bailiff of Jersey.
In spite of that undertaking, the report was not ultimately disclosed by the Bishop of Winchester, a decision which former Bailiff, Sir William Bailhache, later described as ‘a disappointment to many in and outside the islands’.
Lord Faulkner added: ‘As someone who knows the Channel Islands well… I can tell the House that that was quite an understatement. The view on Jersey about how their much-loved and respected Dean, who served ex-officio in the States Assembly and had a commission under letters patent from the Queen, was one of hurt and outrage.’
After a number of peers, including Baroness Butler-Sloss who chairs the Ecclesiastical Committee, spoke against the amendment, Lord Faulkner elected to withdraw it, allowing the motion to pass unopposed, but he concluded: ‘It is important that, when individuals are unfairly singled out for criticism and there is no proper redress or a proper apology given, that should be brought to light; we should have the opportunity to express those views and put those concerns on the record, as we have done in this short debate.’
Now, the Channel Islands Measure will be sent to the Privy Council so that formal approval can be given to switching the Channel Islands’ attachment from the diocese of Winchester to Salisbury, giving effect in English Law to the change.
Meanwhile, changes to the Canons governing the Channel Islands’ relationship with the Church of England are also due to be submitted for Royal assent and subsequent registration in Jersey by the Royal Court, to complete the transfer in Jersey Law.
