Former aide to Archbishop of Birmingham called student a "s**t"
A senior aide of the former Archbishop of Birmingham has apologised after subjecting an Oxford University student to a tirade of abuse at a theological lecture.
Peter Jennings, former press secretary to Archbishop Vincent Nichols, who will become the new head of the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales today, apologised after calling a former Handsworth Grammar School pupil “a s**t”.
Matthew Tye, a PhD student, said he was humiliated in front of a number of prominent figures, including Britain’s ambassador to the Vatican, Francis Campbell, who had just delivered a lecture on faith and foreign policy.
According to Mr Tye, Mr Jennings used the word “s**t” more than 20 times, including: “You’re a s**t, a s**t, a s**t, a worthless s**t.”
He also allegedly called Mr Tye, who is half-Vietnamese, a “peasant”. Mr Jennings said he had “no recollection” of using the word “peasant”.
Mr Tye, who is studying social policy at Campion Hall, a Jesuit college at Oxford, has written to Archbishop Nichols to complain about Mr Jennings’ behaviour.
In his letter, Mr Tye accused Mr Jennings of releasing “a torrent of verbal abuse”.
The row is understood to have blown up after Mr Tye allegedly suggested that Mr Jennings had been dismissed as a spokesman for the campaign for the beatification of Cardinal John Henry Newman.Mr Tye denies having made any such suggestion.
