A VICAR at one of York's biggest churches is bidding to become a Conservative MP in Greater Manchester.

Rev Greg Downes, who is a senior clergyman at St Michael le Belfrey Church, has been announced as the Tory candidate in Salford and Eccles - the constituency of Labour MP and ex-cabinet minster Hazel Blears.

If elected, Mr Downes could become the first serving Church of England clergyman in the Commons, after restrictions on them standing in General Elections were lifted in 2001.

Mr Downes said: "I have voted for both Labour and the Conservative party in the past, my politics are fairly centrist. I had to make a decision on which party to stand for, and I feel this is right for me.

"I will be on the left of the Conservative party, but I don't believe that any political party has a monopoly on truth."

While he agrees with a free market economy, he also believes there is a compassionate strand to Conservatism.

"I worked as a chaplain in a young offenders' institution in Bristol, and I believe our responsibility as a society is to help the broken and the disadvantaged."

York Press:

Mr Downes's profile on the church website

Any time Mr Downes takes off to campaign will be unpaid leave, he added, and both he and a diocesan Communications Officer Eleanor Course stressed that he would be campaigning and standing as a private citizen, not as a representative of either the Church of England or The Belfrey.

The announcement is understood to have divided some of the congregation, however. St Michael le Belfrey in Minster Yard, also widely known as St Mike's or The Belfrey, is one of the busiest and most active churches in the city.

York Press:

St Michael le Belfrey, next to York Minster

Mr Downes arrived at St Michael le Belfrey as associate minister, missioner and theologian last year, but news of his candidacy comes just days after the Church of England’s two most senior clergymen, the Archbishops of York and Canterbury, John Sentamu and Justin Welby, attacked the Government’s policies, saying Britain under the Conservative-led coalition Government was a country where the poor had been “left behind” and entire cities had been “cast aside”.

Congregation member Alex Willmott, a local author, said: "It's not good for the morale of the church. He's a senior minster and hasn't been here for 12 months yet, and he's already expressed an interest to leave and become a Tory MP."

He added: "If he wants to be a Tory MP, fair enough. But he can't be a full time senior minister in York as well as campaigning for the Tories in Salford, almost 100 miles away. It's a ludicrous situation, especially when the CoE has spoken out so strongly against the Government in recent times."

Another congregation member, Ged Murray, told The Press: "I think the problem is that whatever political party someone who is a clergyman is chosen for, it undermines their position as  clergyman. 

"I think it's particularly difficult personally for the Tories but someone else might feel that way if he was with Labour."

He said St Michael le Belfrey had a wide and varied congregation and feared people would begin to wonder whether some of his preachings were influenced by his politics. He said there had been no consultation within the church before the announcement.

Mr Downes will stand against Labour candidate Rebecca Long-Bailey, who inherits an almost 6,000 vote majority from Hazel Blears, who is standing down.