The cleric said a ban should also extend to areas where there were legitimate security and safety concerns, such as at airports or while driving a car. However, he said it was acceptable for women to wear face veils at home, while in the street and at prayer.

This raises the following questions.

Where is the safeguarding for Lord Carey and others in leadership? Their position and responsibilities render them vulnerable to making mistakes, and to the desire of those who raise complaints to some form of redress. If a vulnerable woman is tricked or manipulated into inappropriate sex, is she at fault? If a church leader or minister is tricked or misled should not they receive similar understanding?

The diocese of Leeds has drawn up an action plan in an effort to tackle a £3m deficit. It has told staff that up to 14 people will lose their jobs, inviting them to apply for voluntary redundancy. It may also impose compulsory redundancies.

Its defined benefit pension scheme will close at the end of the year. It will reduce four pay scales to one, and evaluate jobs "to ensure the correct levels of pay" have been set.

Allan Coote, 55, said that St. Paul's officials had tried to remove him on 10 out of 11 occasions in the past few months as he read from the Gospels on church property, according to The Sunday Times. On one occasion, he was temporarily arrested.

"It seems to me that they have lost their way," Coote stated. "They have obviously not understood that the whole reason the Church of England exists is for propagating the Gospel."