Public Bodies Bill [HL]

My Lords, I am grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Inglewood, and his noble co-signatories for tabling the amendment. We have heard something of the present plight of Rose Castle and Hartlebury Castle and the great Hurd Library that it contains. I was fortunate to be educated at the Winchester Cathedral choir school. As a little boy, I played cricket in the lee of the ruins of Wolvesey Castle, the old palace of the Bishops of Winchester. It sits close to the late 17th-century baroque palace, which I believe is still the residence of the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Winchester, yet one wonders for how much longer, as the Church Commissioners seem determined to dispose of their patrimony. The patrimony of the Church of England, our established church, is also the patrimony of the nation. Of course we recognise that the Church Commissioners have a responsibility to keep the Church of England afloat financially, to pay pensions and so forth. No one underestimates the difficult challenge in that, but the church’s responsibility is not just to the material bottom line or to itself. It is far larger. The church’s patrimony of buildings and art is essential to the physical and metaphorical fabric of the nation. The Church of England and our society remain inextricably members one of another. Many right reverend Prelates understand this entirely and are deeply committed to the preservation of the heritage that they have the privilege of presiding over. In Norwich, the cathedral city in which I now live, there was recently an exhibition entitled ““The Art of Faith: 3,500 Years of Art and Belief in Norfolk””. Stephen Fry wrote, in a foreword to the catalogue, that the history of Christianity is, "““part of a larger continuum””." As he put it, artefacts created as an expression of faith, "““speak for all of us across time””." Gail Turner, reviewing the exhibition in the Times, wrote about the, "““relationships between faith, creativity, commerce and geography””." People making buildings and other artefacts as expressions of Christian faith have for millennia made sense for all of us of our place in the world. The patrimony that the Church of England claims as its own has been paid for by the tithes, donations, rents, taxes and lottery tickets of the community. Whatever may be the formal legal position—the noble Lord, Lord Inglewood, explained to us that that is in significant respects doubtful—morally this patrimony belongs to us all. Some 45 per cent of grade 1 listed buildings are Church of England parish churches. The Church of England has been happy to benefit from the listed places of worship grants scheme that was negotiated by my right honourable friend Gordon Brown, when he was Chancellor of the Exchequer, and the most reverend Primate the Archbishop of Canterbury. It has been happy to benefit from the funding that English Heritage has been able to provide for cathedrals and for the repair grants for the places of worship programme jointly funded by English Heritage and the Heritage Lottery Fund. When I was Minister for the Arts, deans of two of our great cathedrals came to see me to ask whether public money could be found to support cathedral choir schools. While, to my regret, the Arts Council was unable to accede to that request at the time, it was an entirely reasonable request, because cathedral music is the fountainhead of so much of the musical life of our nation. Hundreds and thousands of lay volunteers help to care for church buildings. There is a two-way obligation of mutual support between the church and society in respect of the heritage. The nation has a stake and a right in the music of the church and its cathedrals, its bishops’ palaces and the works of art that are contained within them. This is all part of our national heritage and it is not simply for the Church Commissioners to sell off as they will. It is not a question here of the bishop in his castle and the curate at his gate and of the church having some duty of radical equalisation in the accommodation arrangements for both. As the noble Lord, Lord Inglewood, suggested, as a society we want to be able to look up to bishops, just as we do in your Lordships’ House. The people of this country do not want bishops to live in semi-detached houses. I agree with the noble Lord, Lord Inglewood, that they want them to live in palaces. I am aware that the beauty of holiness, Laudianism, has been from time to time controversial in the history of the church, but I am also aware that the church’s commitment to art as an expression of spirituality has always returned. I hope and believe that modernism, plainness and aesthetic banality will prove to be passing fashions in the life of the church. In this fourth centenary year of the King James Bible, when church leaders are asking us to rediscover the literary genius of the Anglican heritage, which has been an inspiration not only to our nation but to the world, how can they sell out their other heritage? It might be gratifying to the hair-shirt tendency and the puritans, but it would be a betrayal of centuries of spirituality and social leadership. How can the Church Commissioners be so philistine as to contemplate this? Are they proud of their record of selling Georgian rectories? After the bishops’ palaces, will they sell the grade 1 listed churches, send them to follow the old London Bridge to Arizona, where I fear that there would be plenty of eager buyers? Church of England moralists have inveighed against asset strippers, junk bond dealers and greedy bankers, but if the Church Commissioners and leaders are to act like a bunch of simoniacs in the 21st century, selling their heritage as their predecessors in the middle ages sold ecclesiastical privileges, we might as well accept that the bankers should be in charge of our spiritual destinies. The church should put the money changers in their place. We are speaking not only of the plight of the palaces of the Bishops of Carlisle and Worcester. The Church Commissioners have very seriously considered selling Auckland Castle, the great residence of the Bishop of Durham. I understand from my noble friend Lord Foster of Bishop Auckland that they have now thought better of that part of their plan, but I also understand that they are still bent on selling the great series of paintings by Francisco de Zurbarán that hang in the dining room at Auckland Castle. I shall quote a letter that was reproduced in the 8 December edition of Town and Country, addressed to Andreas Whittam Smith, the First Church Estates Commissioner. It says: "““Sir, The recent decision of the Church Commissioners to sell the outstanding series of paintings by Francisco Zurbaran at Bishop Auckland Palace, Co Durham, is deeply to be regretted. Assuming that the Commissioners have the legal right to sell the pictures at all, their decision disregards the importance of the paintings in their present setting, as well as the local significance of the Bishop’s palace itself (of which the paintings have formed an integral part since the mid 18th century). The decision appears to have been taken without an informed public discussion. Nor has there been appropriate wider consultation, either regionally or nationally. We urge the Church Commissioners to reconsider the proposed sale””." There were 55 very distinguished signatories to that letter, including the Dean of Durham, the noble Lord, Lord Inglewood, my noble friend Lord Foster of Bishop Auckland, Helen Goodman, the Member of Parliament for Bishop Auckland, John Whittingdale MP, the chair of the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee in the House of Commons, Professor Maurice Howard, president of the Society of Antiquaries of London, and no fewer than 21 other fellows of the Society of Antiquaries. I declare an interest as an FSA myself. These paintings depict Jacob and his son, the patriarchs of the 12 tribes of Israel, and were acquired by Bishop Richard Trevor in 1756. Bishop Trevor was the leader of a campaign to allow Jews to become British citizens and his acquisition of these paintings and their display was a symbolic statement of his support for what was known as the Jew Bill. That legislation was a historic advance in religious tolerance in this country. What would the church say today to those persecuted on account of their race and religion if the latter-day Church of England disowns that moral legacy and cashes in on the heritage of these paintings? We want the Church of England to be part of a bigger, more magnanimous society, surely. The Northern Echo on 6 January reported the secretary to the Church Commissioners, Mr Andrew Brown, as confirming the decision to sell the Zurbaráns. He hoped that £15 million would be raised, which might yield £500,000 a year—the modern equivalent of 30 pieces of silver. Councillor Simon Henig, the leader of Durham County Council, was reported as saying that the Zurbarán paintings were, "““an integral part of the history, culture and economy of Bishop Auckland and the wider area””." In a poll conducted by the Northern Echo, when asked, "““Should the Zurburan paintings be sold?””," 22 per cent of those who responded were content that they should be and 78 per cent said that they should not. Much more recently, last Saturday in the Telegraph, there was a story headed: "““Historic Zurburan paintings could stay at Auckland Castle after church reviews sale plan””." It went on: "““The Church of England is to review plans to sell a collection of historic paintings for £15 million after an outcry from local worshippers””." It reported Mr Tony Baldry, who is the Second Church Estates Commissioner and, as we all know, a civilised man, as saying, in answer to a Parliamentary Question: "““The Church Commissioners, by and large, do not possess pictures—we tend to own land and property—but I am in absolutely no doubt of the importance and identity of those pictures, which is why the working party that I mentioned, which will be chaired by the lord lieutenant of Durham, will consider ways in which the Zurbaráns can stay at Auckland castle””.—[Official Report, Commons, 30/11/10; col. 666.]" However, he went on to give rather uninformative answers to Questions tabled by Helen Goodman. The report continued: "““Later, a spokesman for the Church Commissioners said preparations for the sale would continue while the review group considered other options. ‘We will continue with the proposed sale, on the timescale of a sale by auction next summer, while the working group continues to meet and come up with ideas. We will engage with any proposals they make, and consider them, but meanwhile the preparations for the sale of the paintings continue’””."