Describing himself as a “fully paid up reactionary” North Thanet’s MP, Sir Roger Gale, has this week publicly thrown his support behind the appointment of Bishops in the Church of England.
 
Speaking in a debate in the House the MP said:
 
“This is not about “equality”. It is about the right person for the job.  Ladies who have been ordained have proved that they are very good. In whatever walk of life – whether in the House of Commons, in the Church of England, Industry, Medicine or education, we need the best people in the job.  Some of those best people will be men and some of those best people will be women. If there are more best women than men there should be more female Bishops than male Bishops. If that is counter-reactionary then I can only apologise to my friends who might expect me to take an alternative view.
 
The final line of George Bernard Shaw`s play “St Joan says: “How long, O Lord, how long?”
 
This debate has been going on for far too long. The moment is not with us – it is way past and the decision should have been taken by now. The Bishops will be doing the Church of England, of which I am proud to be a member, no service whatsoever if they duck this issue. It is time to move forward and I hope very much indeed that we in the House of Commons and our colleagues in the Upper House will be given the opportunity to vote for this measure and to see women enjoying the challenges of the episcopy as soon as possible”.

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