However, Downing Street's decision to install the openly gay but celibate Canon of Southwark, Jeffrey John, as Dean of St Albans in Hertfordshire plunged the Church into more arguments.

John's promotion, recommended by the Prime Minister's appointments secretary, William Chapman - and endorsed by Blair - will also raise questions over the extent to which politicians should decide who fills senior ecclesiastical positions.

In contrast to the way bishops are chosen, Number 10 wields almost total control over the appointment of deans.

Chapman is understood to have taken soundings from Church leaders but was adamant that John, seen by many as one of the most brilliant theologians of his generation, should be given a senior position.

Religious groups quickly pointed the finger at the crucial role played by Downing Street over John's job. “This is Number 10 saying the way the Church treated Jeffrey John over the Reading affair was poor,” said Martin Reynolds, spokesman for the Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement.

But the appointment, brought condemnation from traditionalist Anglicans already enraged by the ordination in America of Gene Robinson, a homosexual, as the Bishop of New Hampshire.

One cleric described Dr John's appointment as "outrageous", while others predicted that it would deepen divisions that became apparent during the row over Dr John's abortive appointment as bishop last year.

The Rev David Holloway, a leading member of Reform, an evangelical group, insisted that Dr John's new role would lead to schism within the Church.

"This is a very serious issue for the Church of England," he said. "It is not a secondary point that Christians can decide for themselves; it is primary. This appointment and support for homosexuality generally from the leaders of the Church is basically institutional heresy and institutional decadence."

END