the times | Tuesday May 24 2022 23
News
A Church of England priest who
allegedly shared conspiracy theories
suggesting that Israel was behind the
9/11 terrorist attacks has been accused
of antisemitism and causing “pro-
found” offence to Jews.
The Rev Dr Stephen Sizer, 68,
appeared at a church court in London
yesterday facing 11 allegations of behav-
iour between 2005 and 2018 that
“provoked and offended” the Jewish
community. Complaints were made to
the Church of England by the Board of
Deputies of British Jews, whose presi-
Sizer attended a London conference at
which a Hezbollah politician spoke in
2005; that he met with a “senior
commander of Hezbollah forces” in
2006; that he spoke at a conference in
Indonesia at which a Holocaust denier
also spoke in 2008; and that he “pro-
moted the idea that Israel was behind
[9/11] by posting a link in January 2015beyond. What a way to blow off the
Covid cobwebs.
Motorpoint Arena, Cardiff, May 24;
Bournemouth International Centre,
May 25; Utilita Arena, Newcastle, May
27 and touring to May 31MARILYN KINGWILLNeil Tennant, front, and Chris Lowe
have lost none of their enthusiasm for
outlandish accessories but the band’s
surging hits are still the main eventA euphoric night of
timeless pop bangers
Pop Ed Potton
Pet Shop Boys
O2 Arena, SE10
HHHHHTo think that at the start of their
career Pet Shop Boys didn’t really
play live, first touring in 1989, four
years after their first hit. Now, though,
their shows feel like the most Pet
Shop Boyish thing about them: clever,
stylish, sometimes poignant, often
euphoric.
This was their postponed
Dreamworld tour, subtitled “the
greatest hits live”, and boy they have a
lot of them. So entrenched are they in
our culture that one, It’s a Sin, gave its
name to a Bafta-winning TV series,
while another, West End Girls, was
named by the Guardian as the best
UK No 1 of them all.
They stepped on to the
monochrome set dressed in blazing
white: trench coat for Neil Tennant,
anorak for Chris Lowe. Their appetite
for outlandish accessories remains
undimmed — they wore masks
shaped like tall, stretched letter H’s
and beside them were two lampposts,
the kind that might light “the high
street where the dogs run” in
Suburbia, the opening song. It remains
a surging piece of pop drama.
Tennant’s voice found the sweet spot
between aloof and expressive; Lowe
didn’t move a muscle beyond his
synth fingers.
Later we had the rum sight of
Tennant picking up an acoustic guitar
and singing solo. “Which greatest hit
has an acoustic guitar?” he said,
echoing our thoughts. The answer
was You Only Tell Me You Love Me
When You’re Drunk, which made the
Top 10 in 2000, Tennant reminded us,
delighting as ever in imparting a piece
of trivia. A beautiful, wistful ballad, it
let him tap into his Seventies folk
roots with the band Dust.
The design palette having moved to
glorious colour, the rest of the show
was dominated by bangers. On What
Have I Done to Deserve This? Clare
Uchima from the backing band sang
the Dusty Springfield part with plenty
of soul, while Heart was a full-bore
dancefloor monster. “That one
worked out quite well,” Tennant said
with a smile. Even better was It’s a Sin,
retooled as a build-and-release rave
epic and blasted out under red lights.
The encore was perfect. An
atmospheric electronic build-up
teased West End Girls, which worked
out so well that even Lowe smiled. He
wore a “Boy” cap that nodded to their
early days; Tennant did the same in ablack overcoat. They ended on a
connoisseur’s favourite, the
exquisitely rueful Being Boring,
written about a friend who had died
of Aids and dedicated to “everyone
we’ve lost” in recent years andPriest accused of antisemitic conspiracy posts
Kaya Burgess
Religious Affairs Correspondent
dent, Marie van der Zyl, gave evidence.
If a church court finds against a
priest, possible punishments range
from a rebuke to a ban from the priest-
hood. Church tribunals under the cler-
gy discipline measure are usually held
behind closed doors, but Sizer had the
right to request that his hearings be
open to the public and press, a right that
had not been taken up before.
Sizer, who was ordained in 1984 and
was a vicar at Christ Church in Virginia
Water, Surrey, “absolutely and reso-
lutely denies” that his behaviour was
antisemitic or amounted to miscon-
duct, the court was told.
Court documents list allegations thatto an article entitled ‘9/11: Israel did it’
that blamed Israel for the attacks”.
Nicholas Leviseur, presenting the
case against Sizer, told St Andrew’s
court that he was accused of “conduct
unbecoming... for a clerk in holy or-
ders”. He told the tribunal chairman,
David Pittaway QC, that in a social me-
dia post sharing an article about
supposed Israeli involvement in 9/11,
Sizer wrote: “Is this antisemitic? If so,
no doubt I’ll be asked to remove it. It
raises so many questions.”
Stephen Hofmeyr QC, representing
Sizer, said the priest had said “repeated-
ly, unreservedly and very publicly
that... antisemitism must be repudiat-ed unequivocally” in his writings about
“Christian Zionism”. He added: “[Siz-
er’s] case is that he is not antisemitic
and that his words or conduct never
have been antisemitic.”
Hofmeyr said two rabbis had attend-
ed the conference at which a Hezbollah
politician spoke and said Sizer had
called on the Hezbollah commander to
release imprisoned Israeli soldiers. He
added that “none of the specific allega-
tions against [Sizer] is sufficient to es-
tablish misconduct”.
Van der Zyl said of the allegations:
“It’s so shocking that it comes from
somebody in the Church of England.”
The tribunal continues.The Rev Dr
Stephen Sizer
requested his
hearing be open
to the public