Clerics are outraged because they were told to post "no smoking" signs in churches and cathedrals by July 1.

"It is such nonsense. One is bound to ask, when did you last hear of somebody smoking in church?", one of the clerics said.

The Bishop of Fulham, the Rt Rev John Broadhurst, said: "This is another example of the aggressive nanny state. The whole thing is stark staring mad."