In 2013, Thornton became eligible to join the Lords Spiritual in the House of Lords upon the retirement of Nigel McCulloch, the then Bishop of Manchester, as the next longest serving diocesan bishop.[4][12] He officially became a Lord spiritual on 31 January 2013;[12] however, he did not take his seat until he was introduced to the House in April 2013.[4]
On 4 April 2017, it was announced that he was to resign his see to become Bishop at Lambeth, the Archbishop of Canterbury's episcopal chief of staff at Lambeth Palace, in September 2017.[13] Thornton retired as Bishop at Lambeth effective 30 September 2021,[14] having already resigned as Bishop to the Forces and for the Falklands — his successors in these two posts were each commissioned on 20 September 2021.[15][16]
Thornton has chaired the Board of Trustees of The Children's Society from 2010. He was a trustee of the Church Army 2000–2008. He is a trustee of the following Cornish charities: Volunteer Cornwall, BF Adventure (formerly Bishops Forum), Cornwall Community Foundation.[19]
In March 2016, Thornton was cited in a Guardian report[20] on the Elliott Review as one of several senior figures who had received a disclosure of child sex abuse but had "no recollection". The review, led by Ian Elliott, found this lack of memory difficult to countenance. "What is surprising about this is that he (the survivor) would be speaking about a serious and sadistic sexual assault allegedly perpetrated by a senior member of the hierarchy. The fact that these conversations could be forgotten about is hard to accept", Elliott wrote. The survivor had tried repeatedly to alert the archbishop's office to critical concerns arising from these denials, but was ignored on the instruction of the church's insurers.[21] The resulting Elliott Review led to damning headlines across the UK and world media[22][23][24][25][26][27] and kickstarted significant cultural and structural change in the Church of England's response to sex abuse cases. The review called for all bishops to be retrained.[28][29] The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, reportedly said "the situation is embarrassing and uncomfortable for the church".[30] In an open letter the survivor urged Thornton to lead a call for repentance across the House of Bishops.[31][32]
From October 2016, Thornton sat on the Church of England's National Safeguarding Steering Group (NSSG)[33][34]
Personal life
Thornton is married to Siân, one of His Majesty's Inspectors of Education (HMI) in England.[4][35] Together, they have two adult children.[4][36]
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