The following month, when the House of Commons debated a measure to give the Church of England clergy control over its doctrine and forms of worship, John Stokes said that he was a member of the Party that had its origins in "defence of Church and King". He said the measures had been got up by "a lot of trendy clergymen" who wanted to replace the traditional liturgy "with a lot of modern rubbish". A staunch mainstream Anglican, from 1985 to 1990, he was an elected member of the House of Laity within the General Synod of the Church of England. He was also a member of the Prayer Book Society, a group dedicated to the preservation of the Book of Common Prayer, and a Vice-President of the Royal Stuart Society.