Professor Andrew Chandler, Bishop Bell\u2019s biographer, who has been campaigning to clear Bell\u2019s name, said on Thursday evening that the statements \u201cshow that they are clinging to the wreckage of their old position as best they can.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is simply self-justification, but it does indicate that they will just maintain for the sake of consistency the views that got them into such trouble in the first place.\u201d<\/p>\n
He questioned why, in January of last year, the Church had issued a statement and commissioned a second investigation: \u201cWhat today has really exposed is the ridiculousness of what has been going on, and the foolishness of people who have real power in the Church. . .<\/p>\n
\u201cMany people will say that the Church was trying to control, or retrieve control, of the narrative of Lord Carlile, to shut down the critics, and create a doubt in the public mind that Bell might be a serial offender of some kind.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey have nothing to hide behind now. It looks like a highly calculating, politicised outfit indeed.\u201d<\/p>\n
While parts of the Archbishop\u2019s statement were \u201cmeaningful, welcome, and appropriate\u201d, the reference to the Church\u2019s \u201cdilemma\u201d in weighing up a reputation against a serious allegation did not exist, Professor Chandler argued….<\/p>\n
Read it all<\/a>.<\/p>\n UPDATE: \u201cMany people will say that the Church was trying to control, or retrieve control, of the narrative of Lord Carlisle. . . It looks like a highly calculating, politicised outfit indeed.\u201d<\/p>\n Response from Bell’s biographer, Andrew Chandler:https:\/\/t.co\/znvBrEJWhn<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Hattie Williams (@hattieewilliams) January 24, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n