Archdeacon drives BNP activist away from cathedral

The Archdeacon of Lichfield, the Ven Chris Liley, drove away British National Party (BNP) activist who was campaigning outside of Lichfield Cathedral.

The activist had parked his “Truth Truck” outside the cathedral and started taking pictures of the truck with the cathedral in the background.

The Archdeacon, who is 61, told the activist to stop taking pictures and to leave the vicinity of the cathedral.

He said that he is planning on telling the BNP that they cannot publish any election material with Lichfield Cathedral or that would imply that the Church of England supports its policies, which include ending immigration and the “voluntary resettlement” of people born in other countries.

The BNP is planning on putting forward candidates for the county council elections in Staffordshire and is hopeful of increased support due to opposition to a mosque which is being built in the area.

The BNP was recently censured by a number of churches after it produced a billboard campaign for the European elections which featured Jesus. The text of the advert came from the Bible, "If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you,” and finished with, “What would Jesus do?"

The Church of England Synod also passed a resolution earlier this year barring members of the clergy and laity from being members of the BNP.

The Archdeacon said, "Lichfield Cathedral is a place of Christian worship and the centre of mission for the Diocese of Lichfield. We are open to all and want everybody to feel welcome here – but people visiting the Cathedral must act in a way which does not damage the cathedral nor the welcome that we are able to offer other visitors.

"The BNP are wrong to suggest that Jesus would vote for the BNP. I don't know who he would vote for, but his parable of the Good Samaritan was a clear example about the value we should place on people from other communities.

"Lichfield Cathedral encourages people to vote in elections and we seek to engage with all legitimate politicians. But we will not endorse any particular candidate or party and it is wrong for any party to seek to use the Cathedral in a way which might imply endorsement, regardless of how much we may support or oppose what they stand for."

A BNP spokesman claimed that the activist was trying to capture images of the places his campaign vehicle had visited.

He said, "The cathedral is synonymous with Lichfield. It's a very quaint English place so when you depict it, what better thing to show than the cathedral?

"We're about to put our first candidate in Lichfield and I think we're going to get a very big vote. There's a big mosque planned for Lichfield but there's a lot of opposition to it."