Banbury Tory MP Sir Tony Baldry is one of six people who will become a lay canon at Christ Church Cathedral in Oxford next month.

He is also the second church estates commissioner. Sir Tony said: “Becoming a lay canon will enable me to maintain close contact with the cathedral and the life of the church in Oxford.”

He will be installed at a ceremony on January 31 along with five clergy who serve in the Oxford Diocese.

Rev Charlie Cleverly, rector of St Aldates; Rev Dr Simon Jones, fellow and chaplain of Merton College; Rev Andrew Marsden, vicar of St Sebastian’s, Wokingham; and Rev Geoff Maughan, vicar of Cumnor, will become honorary canons. The final person is Rev Dr Martin Wellings, superintendent minister of the Oxford Methodist Circuit, who will be made an ecumenical canon.

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