The Government has delivered an incredible snub to Britain’s first black archbishop by failing to award him an automatic life peerage.
As Archbishop of York, John Sentamu, 71, should have been given a life peerage to enable him to continue sitting in the House of Lords in a personal capacity after his retirement on June 7, when he ceased to be one of the 26 Church of England bishops who sit as lords spiritual.
However, No 10 failed to announce his peerage at his retirement — breaking the precedent set for his predecessor, Lord Hope, and the immediate past Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, who were made life peers when they laid down their croziers.
Lord Woolley, founder of Operation Black Vote, said: “John Sentamu is a hero and a role model not just to black Britain but to Great Britain. The fact that he has not been afforded a peerage is nothing short of scandalous. Given the deluge of peerages to friends and family, of which not one was black, I sincerely hope this is an oversight that will be rapidly corrected.
“There is a growing feeling that confronting deep-seated racial equalities is not a priority and many people will see this as part of that narrative. I sincerely hope that No 10 will show its leadership not only in elevating a good man who has served our nation but to send the right signal in what is, after all, Black History Month.”
