Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby is facing calls to step down from his role after he allegedly supported ex-Post Office boss Paula Vennells to be the Bishop of London.
Vennels, 68, who handed back her CBE last week, was shortlisted as a candidate for the prestigious role within the church in 2017.
The Queen’s former chaplain, Rev Canon Jeremy Haselock, has called for Justin Welby to resign due to his alleged links to the disgraced Post Office boss.
She has come under fire for the Horizon IT scandal which led to the wrongful prosecution of hundreds of sub-postmasters.
Justin Welby now facing demands he RESIGN after claims he backed disgraced Post Office bossPABetween 1999 and 2015, hundreds of staff members were accused of false accounting, theft and fraud after using the new Horizon system.
The awareness of the case came to the forefront of public attention following the ITV drama Mr Bates vs The Post Office.
Whilst running the Post office, the 68-year-old was ordained as a priest in 2006 and had been an associate minister in the diocese of St Albans.
She was interviewed for Bishop of London role in 2017, the year legal action was launched against the post office by 555 postmasters.
Church sources revealed to the BBC that her application for the position – the third most senior spot in the Church of England – was reportedly pushed by Welby.
Writing on his personal Facebook, Haselock said: “Surely this is the point at which Welby must go.”
“Another demonstration of his complete lack of sound judgement.
Justin Welby has been criticised for his alleged support
PA“His backing for this woman for episcopal office shows how completely he fails to understand the nature of that office.
“His total failure to bring pastoral care to the fore during the pandemic and the disastrous decisions he made at that time show his complete and utter lack of understanding of the Church and its ministry.
“His has been a terrible primary and clutching his Royal Victorian Order, he should go,” Haselock concluded the post.
One church source said Wellby’s alleged support of Vennels linked to back to the church’s new role as a "business".
He said: “I have heard that Welby pushed for her. Apparently the meeting of the Crown Nominations Committee in 2017 was quite fortuitous because Paula had no parish experience and was a self-supporting minister.
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Public awareness of the Post Office scandal has surged recently after the popular ITV dramaPA“Over the past 10 years the church has become more of a business model, so the whole idea of Paula Vennells being the supposed favourite candidate of Justin Welby links to the whole businessification of the church under his reign.”
Another source said the Archbishop was known to be supportive of Vennells, who sat on the church’s ethical investments advisory group. They added: “Justin was close to her. He was always very supportive of her when she was a member of the Church of England ethical investment advisory committee.”
A commissions committee is hearing evidence from victims of the scandal, with MPs questioning the current chief executives of Post Office and Fujitsu over their role.
Ex-postmistress Jo Hamilton delivered an emotional analysis of how the Post Office scandal has affected her mentally.
Speaking in front of a Committee to discuss the Government’s plan to roll out compensation, Hamilton detailed being left “so angry” after discovering she had not “made a hash” of the accounts, despite initially believing she had done so.
Hamilton appeared before the committee alongside Alan Bates, the campaigning former sub postmaster.