Senior C of E figure rejects claim of asylum-seeker baptism ‘conveyor belt’

In submission to MPs, archdeacon Rick Simpson says claims by ex-vicar Matthew Firth are deeply problematic'

A former vicar who claimed the Church of England was complicit in a conveyor belt" of baptisms of asylum seekers presented an unrecognisable picture and was known to take a right-of-centre stance in immigration", a senior clergyman has told MPs.

The Ven Rick Simpson, archdeacon of Auckland in the diocese of Durham, said that neither he nor anyone he had spoken to at St Cuthbert's church in Darlington recognised the picture that was presented" by the ex-vicar, both in articles in the Daily Telegraph and in evidence to MPs.