Former aide to Archbishop of Birmingham called student a "s**t"
The 22-year-old said: “I am very disappointed that there has been silence from the archbishop and the people that he represents.
“I think the archbishop has to come out and say or do something. This man should not be acting in this way. He is wrong to suggest that I instigated the event. It was an entirely unprovoked attack and I remained dignified.
“I went along to the event to hear the speech from the ambassador, who is quite a senior figure.
“But you do not expect to be spoken to like this.
“The university is fully behind me, and have cleared me of any wrongdoing. It is certainly not the way that I want to hit the headlines.”
Mr Jennings claimed no one had known about the reasons he had left Birmingham Oratory, which is why he was “profoundly upset” to hear Mr Tye discussing his departure at the lecture.
He said: “Most of what Mr Tye said was a total fabrication. I admit using a derogatory term, I called him a s**t a few times but certainly not as many 20 times.”
“I have apologised for speaking out of term, I deeply regret it. But I think it’s a storm in a tea cup.
“I have written an apology to Mr Tye which has not been acknowledged.”
Mr Jennings will not be continuing with Archbishop Nichols when he takes up his new post in London as the Archbishop of Westminster today.
He added: “When the new Archbishop of Birmingham is appointed in a few months, he may wish to use my services or he may not.”
The archdiocese of Birmingham refused to comment on the matter.
