Cafod director acknowledges upset over McBride

The director of the Church’s overseas aid agency has acknowledged the distress caused by the publishing of the memoirs of its employee Damian McBride, a former press adviser to Gordon Brown, write Christopher Lamb and Paul Wilkinson.

In his book published last month McBride admitted to political skulduggery, including planting negative stories about political opponents. Cafod had initially agreed to accept half the royalties from the book but later announced they would be declining them.

At Cafod’s annual Pope Paul VI memorial lecture on 18 October, Chris Bain admitted that Cafod had “been in the news recently for not so positive reasons”. Speaking to the audience of supporters at the Greenwood Theatre, London Bridge, on Friday, he went on: “I sincerely want to acknowledge the upset and disappointment that these challenges may have caused to many of our most committed supporters. Those of us responsible for Cafod’s governance and leadership are pledged to address any outstanding issues, working within our core principles and values, with humility, listening and learning. I hope you’ll bear with us.”

He said that over the last year Cafod had spent more than £45 million on their work including responding to humanitarian crises, development in poor countries and education in England and Wales.

Meanwhile, McBride, the charity’s director of external communications, has argued that the civil service is no longer fit for purpose. Writing in the political monthly Prospect, the former civil servant says that too many in the civil service are people “increasingly disconnected from the society they purport to serve”.

He wants a more meritocratic organisation, including a new method of recruitment.