The Bishop of Manchester and Chair of the Council of Christians and Jews stood in this week for the Archbishop of Canterbury to host a reception for participants in the first Inter Parliamentary Conference on anti-Semitism.

The conference is the first of a series and follows the work of the All Party Parliamentary Committee on anti-Semitism, which produced a major report in 2007 and is chaired by Mr John Mann MP.

Since then, the committee has engaged with Parliamentarians concerned with anti-Semitism around the world to create a network and now an agreement to hold regular conferences under the auspices of the Inter-parliamentary Coalition on Combating anti-semitism.

This was established “to confront and combat this most ancient and enduring of hatreds within the new context of an escalating, sophisticated, virulent and global anti-semitism”.

Bishop Nigel McCulloch welcomed both the conference participants and also the representatives of all the faith communities as co-workers in the struggle against anti-Semitism.

He emphasised the commitment of the Archbishop and the Church of England to oppose anti-Semitism vigorously, highlighting the Church of England’s submission to the All Party Enquiry on anti-Semitism and of the Archbishop’s visit to Auschwitz in 2008 together with the Chief Rabbi, Rabbi Dr Tony Bayfield and the leaders of all the faith communities in the country.

Other speakers at the event were Rabbi Andrew Baker and Tim Boswell MP.