Bishops' moves
John Smyth cover-up, Issue 1637 AFTER 11 turbulent years, Archbishop Justin Welby finally managed to unite the Church of England. Everyone wanted him to go. The trigger was the long-awaited report into the Church of England's handling of serial abuser John Smyth QC.

By the time of publication, the Makin Review had missed its due date by four and a half years, though that didn't stop the church responding with indignation when Channel 4 News spilled the beans six days earlier than the church had planned.

Welby pronounced himself horrified by what he read in the report. He might have been less shocked if he had paid more attention to Private Eye, which has been reporting the story regularly since 2017.

The review revealed what we already knew: that however shocked he may have been, Welby failed to act on what he read. After stating that he wouldn't be resigning over the issue, he finally fell on his crozier last week, after admitting his "incompetence" and "really shaming failure" had allowed Smyth to carry on abusing young men for a further five years, until his death in 2018.

However, responsibility should not all go to Welby. The Makin Review says at least ten bishops, and a further 30 rank and file clergy, knew about Smyth's abuses but failed to stop him.

Archbishop Thabo Makgoba of Cape Town is a personal friend of Welby. Welby initially said he had written to Makgoba in 2013 to warn him about Smyth. He later admitted that wasn't true; he never wrote to Makgoba about Smyth. Instead, Makgoba was briefed about Smyth in August 2013 by his suffragan bishop...

Bishop Garth Counsell of Table Bay, Cape Town. He received a letter on 1 August 2013 detailing the seriousness of Smyth's abuse. The letter came from...

Bishop Stephen Conway, then Bishop of Ely, now promoted to Lincoln. Conway received the first "modern" disclosure in 2013, so arguably it was his responsibility to see it through. He says he reported it to Cambridgeshire Police and social services, though neither has any record of receiving a formal report. Bishop Conway did however send a briefing to...

Bishop Jo Bailey Wells, Welby's personal chaplain in 2013. She put the report on Welby's desk marked High Importance. She attached a note saying: "Possible you even know this chap through Iwerne. Tragic tale."

She has said she didn't need to do more, because although Lambeth Palace was receiving safeguarding referrals every week, safeguarding was not part of her brief. Bishop Bailey Wells is now deputy secretary-general of the worldwide Anglican Communion, responsible for, er, safeguarding.

The Makin Review suggests it is most likely that other Lambeth Palace staff members such as Bishop Nigel Stock will have been informed around the same time. Others who certainly knew, according to the Makin Review, include...

Bishop Andrew Watson, the Bishop of Guildford. Watson is a friend of Welby, and also of Bishop Jonathan Gibbs, previously lead bishop for safeguarding. Watson was a victim of Smyth and introduced him to at least two others who went on to become victims (Eyes passim). Between then and 2018 he did little or nothing to prevent Smyth's abuse, even though he became a senior leader in the church. Another who certainly knew was...

Bishop David Conner. Now retired, he was Bishop of Lynn and later the Dean of Windsor, presiding over the funeral of the Duke of Edinburgh and the committal service for Queen Elizabeth II.

He was told of Smyth's abuse as long ago as 1982, while senior chaplain at Winchester College. Anyone who saw Smyth on college property was required to report it to Conner – though he claims he didn't know the severity of Smyth's abuse. The same could be said by...

Bishop Paul Butler, former lead bishop for safeguarding and Bishop of Durham. He was briefed at some time in 2016 in his role as president of the Scripture Union, but says there wasn't enough detail to require him to act. At least he remembers, unlike...

Bishop Martin Seeley, the current Bishop of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich. He was told about Smyth during a selection conference for prospective priests in the late 1980s but says he can't remember it at all. Neither can...

Archbishop George Carey. If Makin is to be believed, he was briefed in 1983, when principal of Trinity College, Bristol, where Smyth was a mature student. Carey denies this. Those people who were certainly told what Smyth had been up to include...

Archdeacon Roger Combes. His initials are on the distribution list for the Ruston Report, a devastating document produced in 1982 by the rector of the Round Church in Cambridge. Combes claims he was handed the report but didn't read it. The report went into graphic detail about Smyth's abuse and confirmed that it was criminal. Speaking of which...

Rev Jonathan Fletcher took part in extensive discussions in the 1980s about whether and how Smyth's abuse should be dealt with. Fletcher attended many camps with Smyth. He is currently awaiting trial on eight counts of indecent assault and one further count of grievous bodily harm with intent.

At least a score of more junior clergy were well aware of John Smyth's sado-masochistic lust for young boys. Many also knew he was running his own network of camps in Zimbabwe – but perhaps reckoned that black African children could be spared more easily than white English public school boys. But special mention must go to...

Rev Nick Stott, currently ministering at Trinity Church Cheltenham, and Rev Sue Colman, former safeguarding officer at Holy Trinity Church, Brompton who provided hundreds of thousands of pounds over decades to sustain Smyth's lifestyle in Zimbabwe.

And a final hurrah to Rev Canon Andrew Cornes, who was made aware of Smyth's abuse by one of his victims as early as autumn 1982. By his own admission, Cornes did nothing in the intervening years to stop Smyth's further abuse. Despite that he is a member of the Crown Nominations Commission, the small group of people charged with the sacred responsibility of... appointing a new Archbishop of Canterbury to replace Justin Welby.