Vicar who blew whistle on asylum seeker scams vows to battle wokery as Oxford chancellor
The cleric who exposed scam baptism in the Catholic church to aid fake asylum seekers will contest the Oxford university chancellorship as an anti-woke and anti-establishment candidate.
Reverend Matthew Firth revealed what he said was a conveyor belt of asylum seekers baptisms in order to stay in the UK with the collusion of the Church of England.
When Rev Firth who initially made the allegations told the story to The Telegraph, he alleged that the Church top leadership was aware of the practice but did not take any action.
This came after it emerged that Clapham chemical attack suspect and sex offender Abdul Ezedi was spirited into the country by a judge, after claiming to be a Christian while being an asylum seeker though other documents pointed to an untruthful person.
Declaration of intent to seek the available Oxford chancellorship may pit Rev Firth against two influential figures including Lord Hague the ex Tory Leader and Lord Mandelson, a New Labour engineer.
Theresa May, the former Tory prime minister, was also mentioned to be in the running, at least until she apparently took herself out of the queue. Former British prime minister Boris Johnson is interested in the job, but he is not in the running, a friend of his said.
Rev Firth publicly declared his intention in a tweet with a comment that he could no longer resist allowing his name to go out for the ballot. He added: “In my own words I am the anti establishment anti woke candidate. ”
In his statement of interest, he said: Having been an Anglican clergyman with three years of parish ministry with youth and families, two years in university chaplaincy, and church planting as well as having a background in astrophysics I have always aimed to be formed by those enduring values of truth, unity, beauty, and goodness.
The task of an academic institution that is grounded in the Christian tradition and uses the Latin saying ‘Dominus illuminatio mea’ – ‘The Lord is my light’, the University of Oxford to but try to be formed by those values.
Thus, as Chancellor, I will support the university and at the same time enforce compliance with those values. At a time when so many great academic institutions are being ruined by woke ideology, I would seek to call the University of Oxford to walk a different path: , the natural path of good and truth, of light and beauty, and of unity in the presence of the Lord.
Thus, for example, where the university walks in this way, I would personally defend and support it. On the other hand, if a university, any college or any department is to take the wokery path or if any part of the university eating into free speech or academic freedom – I will take out time to publicly condemn that.
Truth, unity, beauty and goodness
“Many will seek to install a woke establishment candidate as Chancellor, but if you want to encourage the values of truth, unity, beauty, and goodness, please vote for me: your anti woke man. ”
A recent election occurred because the former chancellor Lord Chris Patten is to retire next year at 80 and the over 250,000 Oxford graduates and former employees will be allowed vote on the Internet for the first time. Polling will be conducted in the week starting the last Monday in October that is the 28th.
Patten, a former chair of the Conservative party and the last governor of Hong Kong, has been in the largely ceremonial post since March 2003 and is only the latest in a very short list of politicians to have laddered up to the post created in 1224.
Only Harold Macmillan, the former Tory prime minister, Roy Jenkins the former Labour home secretary the current president of the European Commission and Patten have done so since 1960.
Rev Firth was able to refuse the liberal Church of England establishment and resigned from all positions in the C of E in 2020 and is now a vicar of the Free Church of England.
To Members of Parliament, he declared even the Archbishop of Canterbury the Rt Rev Justin Welby hesitant “at the moment to be fully candid about those dynamics (of fraudulent baptisms) that we are witnessing in this region. ”