Clergy in the Diocese of Southwark are calling on their bishop to issue a statement of “repentance and regret” after he was found, apparently drunk, in the back of a silver Mercedes throwing children’s toys out of the window.

The Bishop of Southwark, Dr Tom Butler, repeated yesterday his claim that he has no memory of the episode in Crucifix Lane, Southwark, that left him with a black eye and a bump on his head that prevented him from wearing his mitre.

He cannot recall how he got from a Christmas party at the Irish Embassy, near Buckingham Palace, to a back street near Southwark cathedral and from there to his home, bloodied and bruised, in Tooting Bec Gardens.

Priests in his diocese want their bishop, who they say has always taken a “zero-tolerance” approach to drunkenness by the clergy, to come clean.

“We are keeping a very close eye on the situation,” said one. Some are considering writing to the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, asking him to investigate Dr Butler under discipline rules.

One senior clergyman said: “We want to know what happened. We want consistency. The same ethic applies to him as to a first-year curate found drunk outside a youth club. He must make some kind of statement about this. We expect it of politicians, why not bishops?”

He quoted 1 Timothy 3: 2-3: “A bishop must be above reproach . . . not a drunkard.”

A bishop in the Canterbury province, which covers the south of England, said: “I do not think he can survive this. Tom has been utterly ruthless with priests who have been drunk. I know of at least one priest who had to resign.”

In the case of a bishop in the southern province, any complaint would be made to Dr Williams. The Archbishop would then consider whether there was a case to answer before moving on to an investigation. Dr Williams said: “We are sorry to learn of his injuries and wish him a speedy recovery.”Dr Butler claimed initially that he had been mugged because he had suffered injuries and his briefcase and mobile phone were missing.

But his briefcase turned up in the back of the silver Mercedes. His mobile phone is still missing.

The Dean of Southwark, the Very Rev Colin Slee, defended the Bishop. He said: “He has not got a drink problem. He is more popular than any other bishop I have worked with in this diocese. I think he was mugged. None of it adds up.”

He said that the last time he was at a party with Dr Butler, “he drank one glass of wine in three hours”.

Dr Butler, who is 66 and is determined to continue in Southwark until he retires at 70, is a regular on the Thought for the Day slot on the BBC Radio 4 Today programme.

Other guests at the Christmas reception at the Irish Embassy included the head of MI5, Dame Eliza Manningham-Buller, and David Trimble, the former Ulster Unionist leader.

An insider at Lambeth Palace supplied what might be the real answer of what really happened last Tuesday night.

“We are wondering if he was slipped a glass of poteen [an Irish whiskey]. It does have that effect on you, especially if you don’t normally drink a lot.”

Wendy Robbins, a spokesman for the Bishop, said: “He really does not remember. It could be that he was mugged. It could be that he was not. I have never once seen him drunk. He is back at work.”

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