Bishops speak out over Ray Lewis affair

KEITH DOVKANTS

THE TWO bishops at the centre of the Ray Lewis debacle broke their silence today to reveal the full history of the affair that led to the most serious crisis of Boris Johnson's mayoralty. Speaking exclusively to the Evening Standard, the former and current suffragan Bishops of Barking responded to accusations that the Church of England failed to warn the mayor about Mr Lewis's past.

Their accounts conjure an image of a disaster unfolding in slow motion, a runaway train on which no one knew how to apply the brakes. At the heart of the matter is a question about how far the Church - or indeed, any organisation - should go to ensure wrongs of the past are not repeated.

The man who first investigated the allegations against Mr Lewis was the former Bishop of Barking, the Rt Rev Roger Sainsbury. He was appointed in 1991 and was in place when Mr Lewis, a charismatic young black clergyman, was installed as vicar of St Matthew's in West Ham in 1993.

Over the next four years a number of accusations were levelled at Mr Lewis. He was said to have exploited vulnerable parishioners by borrowing a total of £16,000 from them and not repaying it. He was also accused of borrowing £29,000 from a church worker and paying it back only after the police were called in. A number of unspecified allegations of sexual harassment were also made.

It left Bishop Sainsbury, as he then was, with a serious problem. Mr Lewis strenuously denies the charges against him to this day but Dr Sainsbury told the Standard: "From my inquiries I was satisfied that Ray had made mistakes and it came to the point where they could not be overlooked.

"Initially I stood by him, because he was doing some very good work and I felt it was important to encourage black clergy. There were so many African and Caribbean people in the congregations we needed people of the same background.

"But the allegations mounted up and I was instrumental in him being put on the Lambeth List (the list of individuals barred from the Church's ministry)."

Dr Sainsbury said that around the same time Mr Lewis travelled to the Caribbean and could not be contacted.

Senior aides at City Hall have blamed the Church for keeping the allegations against Mr Lewis secret. Some suspect a political agenda behind the fact they surfaced at a time apparently calculated to cause Boris Johnson maximum embarrassment. Asked why he never revealed what he knew about Mr Lewis, Dr Sainsbury said: "That was hardly my place. I retired in 2002 and when you retire, you feel you don't want to interfere. Popping up and interfering can be misinterpreted."

When Mr Lewis returned to London, he set up the Eastside Young Leaders' Academy, a school that works to divert black youngsters from gangs and crime into education and a future career. His success in this was widely acknowledged. The Conservatives, led by David Cameron, held him up as an example of what could be done. In 2007 the Guardian newspaper awarded the academy its charity prize, which included cash to build a new library.

Dr Sainsbury, 71, has spent a lifetime working with disadvantaged young people. He chairs the National Youth Agency, the body that advises government on policy. Before becoming Bishop of Barking he did 12 years' work with young people in Liverpool.

Surely, I asked, didn't he feel moved to alert someone to the fact that Mr Lewis had an unfortunate history? Dr Sainsbury protested. He said he had searched his heart to see whether he should have said something but on balance the decision to remain silent was understandable.

"I could see Ray was doing well with the Eastside Academy and I thought: 'Good. He's moved on and put it behind him.' When I saw he was appointed deputy mayor, I felt the same thing. It never occurred to me that the Mayor's people would not have made all the background checks. Naturally I assumed they had satisfied themselves about his background.

"Let's be clear: there is a lot of good to be said about Ray. A young man he worked with was ordained as a curate at Chelmsford last weekend. I didn't see it as my responsibility to tell the Mayor who he should and should not be working with."

Dr Sainsbury was a Labour alderman in Newham in 1978 but was thrown out of the Labour group for questioning its financial arrangements, he said. Now he says he works closely with a Tory councillor at his home near Bristol. He said he has "absolutely no political agenda".

But the Tories at City Hall smell a plot. The Mayor's senior aide Nick Boles thinks that, at the least, Church leaders have been negligent: "The Church sat on it and suddenly decided to bring it into the public arena now. Why?" he asked.

The information that was "sat on" was contained in a dossier known as "the blue file". A Church of England source said details in such documents were subject to a regime of strict confidentiality and, in more recent years, data protection laws.

According to the Rev Chris Newlands, chaplain to the Bishop of Chelmsford who has overall responsibility for Barking, once Mr Lewis was placed on the Lambeth List the matter was considered closed and when Dr Sainsbury retired in 2002 there was no reason to alert his successor to the Ray Lewis affair.

"The new Bishop of Barking (David Hawkins) was not aware of the background," he said. At first it was suggested that the Bishop had told Boris about Mr Lewis's past when they met at a Global Day of Prayer event at Millwall football stadium on 11 May. But, as the Standard revealed yesterday, this was not the case.

Bishop Hawkins explained to me precisely what happened: "I saw Boris and Ray Lewis at the Millwall event. I met them both as they went up on to the stage and we chatted. At that point I didn't know anything about Ray Lewis. The next day my staff told me that Mr Lewis had been a minister and the story of what had taken place.

"Naturally, I assumed the Mayor's office had made all the checks on someone in such a high-profile appointment.

I felt sure they had all the information but I felt duty bound to confirm it. I thought I should share the information with Boris and if he wanted to take it up, he could. I also told Lambeth Palace and the Bishop of Chelmsford what I was doing."

Bishop Hawkins then sent a letter to Boris that dealt with the Global Day of Prayer and inserted a paragraph which read: "As you probably know your deputy mayor Ray lewis was a Church of England clergyman in my episcopal area in the Nineties. He is no longer serving in authorised ministry in the Church of England. If at any point you wish to speak to me about this, do be in touch."

The Bishop said the letter was posted and a copy was sent by email to the Mayor's own email address.

"I assumed it would be picked up," he said. "It was there for them to get back to me if they chose to." But no one did. Was it because the point was not addressed explicitly? Senior figures at City Hall asked why, when nearly 10,000 letters were delivered to the Mayor's office shortly after he was elected, this one was not marked private and confidential to denote its significance?

The reference to Mr Lewis was, to say the least, carefully couched and the bishop should not have been surprised if it were simply overlooked. But the Bishop insisted that he thought he made his point. He said: "I believe it was perfectly clear. If someone was a minister and is no longer authorised that is perfectly clear. I did it in fairness to Boris. I pray for him and support him in his new role."

But mayoral aides have said that to include a veiled reference in paragraph six of a long letter was, effectively, burying it in code. Mr Newlands defended Bishop Hawkins.

He said: "We have to be very careful when we are writing about people on whom we have information, whether it is a case like this or in giving a reference. It was a kind of code, but someone must have read that letter and whoever it was should have flagged it up."

There was no contact from the Mayor's office. "We felt we had done all we could reasonably do without being overly emphatic or indiscreet," Mr Newlands said. "And we have to be mindful of the data protection laws."

The next move, as far as the Church was concerned, he said, was when they were approached by Channel 4. This raised a question that has yet to be answered. Who leaked the story?

Church sources say the allegations against Mr Lewis were not known solely within the Church of England. He was - and remains - a well-known figure with a wide range of contacts. His difficulties at St Matthew's were known to a number of people, including those involved - then and now - in voluntary work.

Senior Church figures refuse to accept blame for Boris's embarrassment. It was for his staff to satisfy themselves they were making the correct appointment, they insist.

Bishop Hawkins underlines this point with a claim that no one from the Mayor's office took up references with the Church. "Neither I or my predecessor was asked for a reference," he said. "And neither was the diocesan bishop or the archdeacon."

Nick Boles has admitted he had pushed for Ray Lewis's appointment as deputy mayor for youth and said he was given the job "in a bit of a rush". But observers at City Hall believe the real mistake was in the panic that followed the realisation that news organisations were investigating.

Mr Lewis was asked about the allegations against him and denied them. Boris's team was so confident of his responses that they threatened to sue the Church for defamation when they saw that the Bishop of Chelmsford intended to put out a statement including a reference to the accusations against Mr Lewis.

This was where Boris's team made their fatal mistake. Instead of calling in a lawyer to carry out a fast and aggressive interrogation, they took Mr Lewis at this word. This led to Boris calling a press conference last Thursday, expressing his support for his deputy mayor. At that stage, Boris accepted Mr Lewis's assurance that he did not even know he had been barred from being a minister.

Dr Sainsbury was able to clear up that one. He said that after Mr Lewis was placed on the Lambeth List he left for the Caribbean. "Then he came back. In 2000, he came to see me and I told him he no longer had the right to officiate as a priest. I can still see it, he had tears in his eyes when I told him and, frankly, I was a bit tearful myself."

No doubt there are now a few people in the Mayor's office who feel the same way.

Additional reporting: Claire Paine.