The gay clergyman whose abortive appointment as Bishop of Reading came close to splitting the Church of England could soon become Britain’s first openly gay diocesan bishop.

Dr Jeffrey John, the Dean of St Albans, who two years ago celebrated a civil partnership ceremony with another priest, is to be nominated as Bishop of Bangor in North Wales.

Liberals welcomed the news, but conservatives gave warning that it would aggravate the tensions over sexuality that are threatening to rend the Anglican Communion in two and revive the rancour that followed the consecration of Bishop Gene Robinson in New Hampshire in the US five years ago. Since then, the 38 provinces of the Church have agreed to observe a moratorium on such consecrations.

Several candidates are likely to be nominated for the Bangor post, but Dr John has the support of senior figures in the Church in Wales, according to informed sources. The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, whose authority does not extend beyond England, would have no power to prevent such an appointment.

The Church in Wales is no longer part of the established Anglican Church in Britain and has a tradition of liberal catholicism. In addition, it prefers its senior clergy to speak Welsh — which Dr John does. Of the six dioceses, Bangor is vacant and St Asaph is to become vacant soon when the present incumbent retires. The Dean of St David’s, the Very Rev John Wyn Evans, was elected the new Bishop of St David’s yesterday.

As at St David’s, the main requirement in Bangor and St Asaph is that new bishops be good pastors. Dr John meets this and is also a noted theologian. He has proved himself a success at St Albans, where the congregation has thrived under his leadership.

The election comes at a difficult time for Dr Williams, who got through the recent Lambeth Conference in Canterbury without schism.

Days afterwards The Times published correspondence between the Archbishop and Dr Deborah Pitt, a psychiatrist, in which he said that active gay sexual relationships could be comparable with marriage.

In the letters, written nearly eight years ago but not previously released, Dr Williams spoke of how Dr John’s writings in support of gay relationships had influenced profoundly his own liberal thinking on the issue.

Dr Williams forced Dr John to stand down after he was nominated as Bishop of Reading in the Oxford diocese in 2003 in the face of a conservative backlash against his appointment.

Despite his civil partnership with the Rev Grant Holmes, Dr John is celibate. But conservatives oppose his elevation because he has written persuasively in support of a new scriptural understanding of homosexuality.

The governing body of the Church in Wales turned down a proposal for women bishops recently, but the Archbishop of Wales, Dr Barry Morgan, is a known liberal who is on record as saying that he would be willing to consecrate Britain’s first gay bishop. In an interview on the eve of the Lambeth Conference in July, Dr Morgan said that, if his fellow bishops in Wales voted for a homosexual priest to be consecrated bishop, he would have no objections in principle.

The See of Bangor became vacant when the Right Rev Anthony Crockett, a respected liberal, died of cancer in June. Dr Morgan will take initial soundings when members of the college for Bangor meet for preliminary discussions next week. The formal election will take place in October, at a highly secret three-day lock-in at the historic cathedral in Bangor. There are more than 40 members of the college, including 6 from each diocese and 12 from Bangor. Each member can nominate as many candidates as they wish. Dr John will not be nominated formally until the members are closeted behind the locked doors of the cathedral. The nominations are confidential.

He would then only become bishop if a two-thirds majority of the college agreed. If elected, he would have 28 days to accept the offer before the appointment was confirmed by a specially convened Sacred Synod. In spite of the liberal majority in Bangor, the breakdown of the electoral college means that the final outcome would be close. Dr John was put forward as Bishop of Monmouth four years ago, but did not secure enough votes for a two-thirds majority.

Members of the Church in Wales may be anxious not to exacerbate existing tensions over the issue. A senior source close to the election told The Times: “One member of the college is going to put Jeffrey John’s name forward. It will be a very close thing.”

Another Church in Wales insider said: “He has a good pastoral record. He might well be considered.”

The Rev Giles Fraser, Vicar of St Mary’s Putney, a friend of Dr John and founder of the Inclusive Church lobby that champions the gay cause, said: “Jeffrey John would make an absolutely splendid bishop. This is not before time. This is a man who does not contravene the guidelines on human sexuality at all.”

But in a joint statement, Canon Chris Sugden and Philip Giddings, of Anglican Mainstream, the conservative lobby set up in response to Dr John’s appointment to Reading, said: “If he is being nominated to a Welsh episcopate, the obstacles remain the same as to his previous candidacies for senior appointments.”