At the risk of detaining the House much longer than I wished to do I shall have to give in rather greater detail the somewhat long history of this case. It goes back to 1962—to 23rd November—when the Diocesan Reorganisation Committee of London met and decided on consultations with those concerned, with a view to a reorganisation scheme, to restore the church for use by the Diocesan Council of Christian Stewardship, and that it should be considered and accepted, together with a chapel open to the public, and with a chaplain.

After the Diocesan Committee met and decided in principle that it accepted those proposals—that was on the Friday—it was regrettable that, on the Sunday following, two days later, there was a leakage from a member, clearly, of that Committee, to the Sunday Telegraph, which printed an article by its ecclesiastical correspondent, giving the information that I have just given to the House.

On the following day, Monday, 26th November, the Secretary of the London Diocesan Reorganisational Committee wrote to Canon Satterthwaite to apologise for his apparent discourtesy in not informing him and the Guild Church Council as to what was afoot—what the proposals were that the London Diocesan Reorganisational Committee intended to support. In that letter he informed Canon Satterthwaite that under the Committee's proposals Saint Michael Paternoster Royal would cease to be a Guild church.