ALLEGATIONS made last week that members of the Liverpool Crown Nominations Commission (CNC) had been “bullied” into considering Dr John Perumbalath for nomination have been disowned by other participants in the process.

Last week, Channel 4 News reported the allegation that the Archbishop of York had put pressure on CNC members of the CNC to consider Dr Perumbalath, despite the latter’s having allegedly “failed” a safeguarding component. In an interview with the Church Times, Archbishop Cottrell said that it was not true that Dr Perumbalath had failed his safeguarding interview, and denied having attempted to overrule the CNC.

“First of all, it is the practice on every CNC that, before somebody is interviewed, there is an interview with the director of safeguarding. And it is actually a ‘pass/fail’ interview. So, if you had failed the interview, if there was sufficient concern about your ability to oversee safeguarding, you wouldn’t be interviewed at all.

“As for overruling the CNC . . . I’m afraid that simply isn’t true. I don’t know why someone would suggest that. I chair the CNC in the Northern Province, but I’m one vote in a secret ballot. I think people will know from other CNC processes that the CNC has its own mind,” he said.

A statement from the Archbishop said that the Church’s National Safeguarding Team “found no concerns” about Dr Perumbalath’s “operational safeguarding experience”, but that it “recommended some development work for him as he took on additional strategic safeguarding responsibilities — which is commonly the case for new diocesan bishops”.

All members of a CNC are bound by strict rules of confidentiality. A member of the Liverpool CNC in 2022, Christina Baron, told the Church Times that she was “hurt, upset, and angry that someone would breach that confidentiality”.

There was, Ms Baron said, no system for investigating or addressing such breaches, which meant that any claims could not be rebutted without further compromising the principle of confidentiality.

Referring to this principle, she declined to give any details about what happened in the Liverpool CNC.

Also last week, another member of the CNC, the Archdeacon of Liverpool, the Ven. Dr Miranda Threlfall-Holmes, told Channel 4 News that she was bound by confidentiality, but was able to say that she “did not personally feel bullied or coerced”.

Another member of the CNC told the Church Times that they did not recognise the account of the proceedings given to Channel 4 News.