James Jones (bishop)

Jones is the son of Major Stuart Jones and Helen Jones. He was educated at the Duke of York's Royal Military School, Dover and Exeter University, where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in theology in 1970. He was further educated at Alsager College, Keele (where he graduated with a Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) in drama and religious education in 1971) and Wycliffe Hall, Oxford (1981).

From 1971-74, Jones was a teacher at Sevenoaks School and led one of the first community service programmes in schools. He was also co-founder of the first Volunteer Bureau in England. Between 1975-81, he was producer at Scripture Union. He was then a curate, then associate vicar of Christ Church, Clifton Down in the Diocese of Bristol. Jones was visiting lecturer in media studies at Trinity College, Bristol and, from 1990 to 1994, the vicar of Emmanuel Church, South Croydon in the Diocese of Southwark and the Bishop of Southwark's examining chaplain. In 1994, he became Suffragan Bishop of Hull in the Diocese of York, a post he held until 1998 when he was appointed the 7th Bishop of Liverpool.

Jones is an Evangelical and was one of the group of bishops who signed a letter opposing Rowan Williams' decision not to block the appointment of Jeffrey John as Bishop of Reading.[3] The other diocesan bishop signatories were: Michael Scott-Joynt (Bishop of Winchester), Michael Langrish (Exeter), Michael Nazir-Ali (Rochester), Peter Forster (Chester), George Cassidy (Southwell & Nottingham), Graham Dow (Carlisle), John Hind (Chichester) and David James (Bradford).[4] In 2008, Jones apologised for opposing the gay cleric.[5]

Jones was also Chair of Council at Wycliffe Hall, Oxford, when the college suffered much publicity because of allegations of bullying against its principal, Richard Turnbull. The majority of the academic staff left the college and wrote to the Church Times expressing grave dissatisfaction at the failure of the Council (under Jones as Chair) to allow mediation and address substantive issues.[6] Former principals wrote to the press to object at the way the Council and Chair had handled the issue.[7] A member of the council also resigned in protest,[8] having "no confidence in the Chair, the Principal or the Council".[9]

In 2008, the College was taken to an employment tribunal for unfair dismissal. They admitted breaking the law and had to pay damages. In 2009, Bishop Jones resigned and was replaced as Council Chair by the Bishop of Chester. On 28 January 2013, it was announced that Jones would retire as Bishop of Liverpool on his 65th birthday on 18 August. He was subsequently licensed as an honorary assistant bishop in the diocese of York.[10][11]

In December 2009 it was announced that Jones would chair the panel relating to the Hillsborough Disaster in which 96 Liverpool football fans died.[12]

In 2012, Jones and Sir Henry Studholme, as Chairman and Deputy Chairman respectively, conducted the Independent Forestry Panel report on the future of the UK’s state-owned forests after the government announced plans to sell off the British state forests.[13][14]

Jones chaired the Gosport Independent Panel, an independent panel which wrote a report published on 20 June 2018, which found that 456 deaths at the Gosport War Memorial Hospital in Hampshire, England, in the 1990s had "followed inappropriate administration of opioid drugs".[15] In his introduction, the bishop says:[16]

The shocking outcome of the Panel’s work is that we have now been able to conclude that the lives of over 450 patients were shortened while in the hospital ... during a certain period at Gosport War Memorial Hospital, there was a disregard for human life and a culture of shortening the lives of a large number of patients by prescribing and administering “dangerous doses” of a hazardous combination of medication not clinically indicated or justified ... when relatives complained about the safety of patients and the appropriateness of their care, they were consistently let down by those in authority – both individuals and institutions...

Jones married Sarah Marrow in 1980 and they have three daughters.[10]

Jones was appointed Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE) in the 2017 New Year Honours for services to bereaved families and justice.[17]

• James Jones Esq (1948–1982)
• The Revd James Jones (1982–1994)
• The Rt Revd James Jones (1994–2017)
• The Rt Revd James Jones KBE (2017 to date)

• James Jones Official Website
• "DodOnline". Archived from the original on 3 October 2006. Retrieved 28 November 2006.
• Diocese of Liverpool website biography