The Curious Case of Boris’ Bishop: Did the First Catholic Prime Minister Fall Foul of s 18 of the Roman Catholic Relief Act 1829?

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size

Open Government Licence Statement

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

Notes

1 Although one might suggest that, as his predecessor Winston Churchill is supposed to have said, the only way he will be able to ensure that history is kind to him is to write it himself.

2 C Simpson, ‘Boris Johnson “first baptised Catholic” to become prime minister’ Irish News (26 July 2019) <www.irishnews.com/news/northernirelandnews/2019/07/26/news/boris-johnson-first-baptised-catholic-to-become-prime-minister-1670746/> accessed 15 February 2024.

3 C Pepinster, ‘A Catholic prime minister in No 10 is a watershed moment’ The Guardian  (12 June 2021) <www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/jun/12/catholic-prime-minister-no-10-watershed-moment-boris-johnson> accessed 15 February 2024. Tony Blair – married to a Catholic – regularly attended Mass while in office but was not actually received into the Church until after his resignation in 2007: BBC,‘Tony Blair joins Catholic Church’ BBC (22 December 2007) <http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7157409.stm> accessed 15 February 2024. It is, frankly, a great pity for history that Canon Law prevents the contents of Blair’s first Confession – which, in the usual process for adult converts, would have happened shortly before his Reception – being made public, as one suspects this would have provided a fascinating insight into the politics of the early 2000s.

4 Although the cynic might suggest Johnson’s colourful personal life makes him an unlikely character to have become the first Catholic PM; the least likely King David figure since, well, King David.

5 See e.g. Pepinster (n 3); R Peston, ‘Is Boris Johnson allowed to pick the next Archbishop of Canterbury?’ The Spectator (24 July 2021) <www.spectator.co.uk/article/is-boris-johnson-allowed-to-pick-the-next-archbishop-of-canterbury-> accessed 15 February 2024.

6 Prime Minister’s Office, ‘Press Release: Bishop of Chelmsford: 17 December 2020’ (17 December 2020) <www.gov.uk/government/news/bishop-of-chelmsford-17-december-2020> accessed 15 February 2024.

7 I use the plural deliberately; the English Civil War was, in effect, one of a series of civil wars between Charles I and various opposition groups within the three Stuart Kingdoms of England, Scotland and Ireland. Increasingly, the term ‘The War of the Three Kingdoms’ is used to refer to the whole period; see e.g. T Royle, Civil War: The War of the Three Kingdoms 1638–1660 (Abacus 2005).

8 See generally R Hattersley, The Catholics (Chatto and Windus 2017) 122–139.

9 The Stuart dynasty were Kings of both England and Scotland, which remained, at that point, politically independent but in personal union under the same monarch. It is a convention to give the regnal numbers for both England and Scotland where those differ.

10 A Fraser, The Gunpowder Plot (Phoenix 2002) 343.

11 Thoburn v Sunderland City Council [2002] EWHC 195 (Admin) [62] Laws LJ.

12 Act of Settlement 1701, ss I and II.

13 The disqualification from the Succession of individuals who marry Catholics was abolished by s 2 of the Succession to the Crown Act 2013. However, the disqualification from the Succession for practising Catholics remains. A recent example of an individual being disqualified from the Succession as a result of becoming Catholic is Princess Alexandra of Hannover, a member of the Royal Family of Monaco and descendant of Queen Victoria, who converted in 2018: Catholic News Agency, ‘Monegasque princess removed from British line of succession for becoming Catholic’ CAN, (1 October 2018) <www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/39524/monegasque-princess-removed-from-british-line-of-succession-for-becoming-catholic> accessed 15 February 2024.

14 Corporation Act 1661.

15 Test Act 1672 and Test Act 1678. Transubstantiation is, essentially, the Catholic doctrine that the bread and wine used in Holy Communion become the actual flesh and blood of Christ – they change substance while retaining the outward appearance of bread and wine – compared to the Anglican view that the bread and wine is merely symbolic of Christ’s body.

16 Ministry of Justice, Review of the Executive Royal Prerogative Powers: Final Report (MoJ 2009) 4.

17 Parochial Church Council of the Parish of Aston Cantlow and Wilmcote with Billesley v Wallbank [2003] UKHL 37 [61] Lord Hope of Craighead.

18 Written answer by the PM, 8 June 1976, quoted in Archbishops' Council, Working with the Spirit: choosing diocesan bishops (Church House Publishing 2001) 148.

19 The process is summarised in the Archbishop’s Council’s document Working with the Spirit: choosing diocesan bishops (n 18) 113–138, which sets out a fascinating history of the process for appointing Bishops since the earliest days of the Church.

20 N.20.

21 ibid 148–149.

22 M Hill, Ecclesiastical Law (4th edn, OUP 2018) paras 4.62–4.63.

23 As both Margaret Thatcher (V Bogdanor, Monarchy and the Constitution (Clarendon 1995) 228) and Tony Blair (Church News Ireland, ‘Blair vetoed Belfast born cleric as Bishop of Liverpool’ Church News Ireland (Online) (20 July 2020)) <www.churchnewsireland.org/news/irish-uk-news/blair-vetoed-belfast-born-cleric-as-bishop-of-liverpool/> accessed 15 February 2024 did while in office.

24 S Coleman, ‘The Process of Appointment of Bishops in the Church of England: A Historical and Legal Critique’ (2017) 19 Ecclesiastical Law Journal 212.

25 T Shipman, ‘Announcing bishops will fall to someone else now PM’s a Catholic’ The Times (6 June 2021) <www.thetimes.co.uk/article/announcing-bishops-will-fall-to-someone-else-now-pms-a-catholic-9k29b272z> accessed 15 February 2024; M Davies, ‘Lord Chancellor “likely” to pass names of new C of E bishops to Queen’ Church Times (11 June 2021) <www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2021/11-june/news/uk/lord-chancellor-likely-to-pass-names-of-new-c-of-e-bishops-to-queen> accessed 15 February 2024.

26 L Maer, House of Commons Library, Standard Note SN/PC/04403, ‘Prime Ministerial involvement in ecclesiastical appointments’ (2008) 15.

27 Sweet v Parsley [1970] AC 132.

28 See e.g. <www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/profess> accessed 15 February 2024.

29 P McGarry, ‘Boris Johnson baptised Catholic and cannot defect from Church, says canon law’ The Irish Times (31 May 2021) <www.irishtimes.com/news/social-affairs/religion-and-beliefs/boris-johnson-baptised-catholic-and-cannot-defect-from-church-says-canon-law-1.4579760> accessed 15 February 2024.

30 Excommunication does not, contrary to popular belief, remove someone from the Church. A person who has been excommunicated remains a member of the Church, but is excluded from receiving Sacraments.

31 T Pozzi, ‘Boris Johnson refuses to say whether he is a practicing Catholic’ The Catholic Herald (14 June 2021) <https://catholicherald.co.uk/boris-johnson-refuses-to-say-whether-he-is-a-practicing-catholic/> accessed 15 February 2024.

32 C Brown, ‘Campbell interrupted Blair as he spoke of his faith: “We don’t do God”’ The Telegraph (4 May 2003) <www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1429109/Campbell-interrupted-Blair-as-he-spoke-of-his-faith-We-dont-do-God.html> accessed 15 February 2024.

33 C Pepinster, ‘As Boris Johnson’s godmother, I’m so pleased he has returned to Catholicism’ The Telegraph (26 September2020) <www.telegraph.co.uk/men/thinking-man/boris-johnsons-godmother-pleased-has-returned-catholicism/> accessed 15 February 2024.

34 Bogdanor (n 23) 66.

35 D Torrance House of Commons Library Research Briefing CBP9877, ‘The royal prerogative and ministerial advice’ (2023) 19.

36 Although from his own personal standpoint, there may be very significant consequences; aside from the prohibition from holding office, the offence is a ‘high misdemeanour’ which was a serious category of offence, usually committed against that state, which fall short of treason but nevertheless seem to carry an element of Lèse-majesté. By way of example, another such offence is that of discharging or aiming firearms, or throwing or using any offensive matter or weapon, with intent to injure or alarm the Monarch under s 2 of the Treason Act 1842, for which the statute provides a maximum sentence of seven years in prison, or transportation overseas. While s 18 does not prescribe any sentence, and it has not been possible to find any case law guidance on the issue, it suggests that the offence is considered a serious one for which imprisonment would not be out of consideration.

37 Inter alia R (Miller) v Prime Minister [2019] UKSC 41.

38 Statute Law (Repeals) Act 1978, Part XVI.