The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, has resigned following the storm surrounding his mishandling of a child sex abuse scandal.
In a statement, Welby said that it had become clear that he “must take personal and institutional responsibility” for the “long and retraumatising” period after he was informed of serious allegations in 2013.
The pressure on the Archbishop to resign reached a new intensity in the past 48 hours as senior colleagues joined in the calls for him to step down.
The Bishop of Newcastle, Dr. Helen-Ann Hartley, yesterday called the Archbishop’s position “untenable” and said urgent action was needed to prevent the Church of England “losing complete credibility”. This morning the Dean of Chapel at King’s College Cambridge, Dr. Stephen Cherry, told BBC Radio 4’s Today that Welby had lost the “trust and confidence” of the Church of England.
A number of other senior bishops were reported to have privately said that his position was untenable.
Since Saturday, more than 12,000 people had signed a petition created by General Synod clergy members Rev Dr. Ian Paul, Rev Robert Thompson and Rev Marcus Walker, demanding Welby resign “for the protection of the vulnerable, and for the good of the Church”.
Calls for Welby to quit were also trending on X over the weekend with the hashtag #welbyresign. Rev Fergus Butler-Gallie, author of Touching Cloth, wrote an open letter urging Welby to go “for the love of God, and Him alone” that was viewed over 400,000 times.
This morning, the Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Energy Secretary Ed Miliband piled the pressure on as they failed to back him, with Starmer saying the victims have “obviously been failed very, very badly”.
The abuser at the heart of the scandal is John Smyth QC, a barrister and Christian summer camp leader who is said to have subjected as many as 130 victims to sexual violence before he died in Cape Town in 2018 while under investigation by Hampshire police.
Details of the abuse were known as early as 1982 but only emerged in the public domain in 2017 thanks to investigations by the Daily Telegraph and Channel 4. According to the Telegraph:
Victims said Smyth would invite them to his home in Winchester where he would order them to strip naked and cane them on their exposed backsides. One said he could feel the blood spattering on his legs; another had to wear an adult nappy afterwards.
The scandal exploded this week due to the publication of an independent report, the Makin report, several years overdue, which found that Smyth’s crimes could have been exposed in 2013 if Welby, who had become aware of the allegations that year, had followed up to ensure the police investigated. His failure to do so meant Smyth was never brought to justice, the report said.
Andrew Morse, 63, who was violently abused by Smyth when a teenager in the 1970s, said Welby’s failure to act in 2013 was a “dereliction of duty” and a betrayal of victims.
He said: “I think it feels like he prioritised his position and the reputation of his church above the plight of the victims and, because Smyth was still alive at that time, above other potential victims as well.”
The Archbishop initially refused to quit, saying he had apologised for his own failures and the abuse by the Church in general but did not intend to resign.
In a statement to the Telegraph on Monday, a Lambeth Palace spokesman said:
The Archbishop reiterates his horror at the scale of John Smyth’s egregious abuse, as reflected in his public apology. He has apologised profoundly both for his own failures and omissions, and for the wickedness, concealment and abuse by the church more widely. As he has said, he had no awareness or suspicion of the allegations before he was told in 2013 and therefore having reflected, he does not intend to resign. He hopes the Makin review supports the ongoing work of building a safer church here and around the world.
It is the first time an Archbishop of Canterbury has resigned due to scandal. His predecessor Rowan Williams stepped down in 2012, but this was to take up a position as master of Magdalene College.
Welby knew Smyth from his time volunteering at Christian summer camps in the 1970s and contributed financially to his ministry during the 1980s. He claims to have had no awareness of Smyth’s abuse before 2013, though has recently admitted that he had been warned to “stay away” from Smyth in 1981. Welby told the Makin review this warning was vague and he assumed based on “incompatible personalities” rather than anything sinister. It evidently did not register as a cause for concern. He continued to send Smyth a Christmas card.
Unbeknownst to Welby, a secret report was compiled on Smyth’s abuse in 1982 by Mark Ruston, a vicar who interviewed 16 of his victims. However, following the report, rather than exposing Smyth or informing the police, the matter was covered up and Smyth encouraged to relocate to Zimbabwe, where he continued his abuse.
Whatever Welby did or did not know before 2013, the thrust of the criticism of the Archbishop is what he failed to do after 2013 when, now installed in Canterbury, he was informed of the full extent of Smyth’s abuse.
Welby was clearly at fault, as he admitted before he resigned when he apologised for not doing more. But he was also badly let down by his advisers. He was told by his then chaplain Jo Bailey Wells that the Bishop of Ely, Stephen Conway, who was handling the case for the Church, considered that the trust responsible for the camps (the Titus Trust) must not be informed at that point, because the matter was being investigated by the police. Makin writes: “Welby is told, therefore, that the matter is being dealt with, the police have been informed and a letter has been sent to the appropriate Bishop in Cape Town.”
Bailey Wells subsequently advised Stephen Conway that she would leave it to the Ely diocese to pursue and take no further action until the police had provided further advice. She has released a statement saying that at the time she was “not aware of the nature or extent of the allegations”.
However, it wasn’t actually the case that the police were investigating at the time, and damnably for Welby, he did not follow the matter up after this. This is despite the clear scale and severity of abuse, Welby’s personal connection to Smyth and the fact that at the time Smyth was still alive and active. Welby only took further action after the exposé in 2017. Even then, it took him until 2021 to do what he had promised in 2017 and meet with victims.
Makin acknowledges: “Welby advised reviewers that he was consistently following advice from police and safeguarding colleagues.”
In other words, Welby is not accused of failing to follow correct safeguarding procedure. Rather, he is accused of failing to go beyond that procedure and make sure action was being taken. Because he knew he was following procedure (and maintains he didn’t know before 2013) he thought he could survive. But he was wrong. Following the letter of the law was not enough on this occasion, not when you’re the Archbishop of Canterbury and you knew the perpetrator personally, and when it involves the most prolific known abuser in the Church’s history who at the time was still at large. Welby failed to see the additional dimensions of the scandal, beyond the strict adherence to safeguarding protocol and advice, and when this came to light he lost the confidence of his colleagues and the wider public.
Part of the problem he faced was that he had himself taken a very firm attitude to others over alleged safeguarding infractions, most notoriously suspending the Bishop of Lincoln, Christopher Lowson for almost two years in 2019 for similar allegations of failing to handle safeguarding matters correctly. Welby later reinstated him and apologised. In the past few weeks Welby told a podcast that covering up child abuse was a “dismissal offence” and the Church would take tough action against those seeking to protect “wicked people”. Little surprise, then, that he could not hang on when the tables turned.
Justin Welby has been a highly controversial Archbishop of Canterbury over the 11 years he has been in post, particularly among conservatives both inside and outside the Church. He has made numerous political interventions, invariably from the political Left, including last year criticising the Conservative Government’s flagship Rwanda scheme to address illegal immigration. He has branded his church “deeply institutionally racist” and backed radical race-based initiatives, such as a commitment to give away £100 million of C of E funds in ‘reparation’ schemes. He has driven forward an extreme eco-agenda, with the C of E committed to hitting Net Zero carbon emissions by 2030. And he recently faced calls to resign after bringing in church services for the blessing of same-sex couples and admitting that he no longer accepted the Church’s biblical teaching on marriage.
He came under fire for closing churches during Covid and for what was widely seen as a managerialist, anti-parish agenda inspired by the disgraced former Post Office CEO Paula Vennells of Horizon scandal infamy, whom he backed to be Bishop of London in 2017.
He was also facing a further challenge this week in a judicial review of a decision not to allow a disciplinary case to be brought by Rev Dr. Bernard Randall, a chaplain who was banned from ministry for giving a sermon at a private school on identity politics and LGBT ideology. Despite being cleared of all wrongdoing, Randall remains barred from ministry due to a decision by the Bishop of Derby, Libby Lane (known for being the C of E’s first female bishop). The judicial review addresses Welby’s failure to permit Randall to bring a disciplinary case against Lane, a failure described by a leading lawyer as “plainly wrong“.
Church attendance has plummeted under Welby’s tenure as he was unable to reverse the long term decline and Covid dealt a hammer blow to Anglican churchgoing. Since 2013, usual Sunday attendance fell from 788,000 to just 557,000, with a particularly steep drop since 2020.
Conservatives will not miss Welby and many had long wished to see the back of him. However, it was when liberals and senior clergy joined in the resignation calls that it became clear he could not cling on.
All eyes will be on who will succeed him. With a liberal currently as Archbishop of York, the Church of England and global Anglican Communion will need an orthodox cleric in Canterbury to have any chance of holding the show together. However, the usual pattern is for a liberal to succeed the ‘conservative’ (such was his background) Justin Welby. Perhaps York’s Stephen Cottrell will move to Canterbury and an evangelical be put in York – though that would be scarcely less divisive as Cottrell is not an acceptable figure to conservatives.
In the meantime, the key post of Canterbury will be vacant, just as the Church prepares next year to bring in services that closely resemble same-sex weddings, a development that is threatening to split the Church.
It’s not a happy time for the Established Church.
Stop Press: Gareth Roberts thinks he knows who will be on the shortlist to replace Welby.
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It will be our billions that will pay for them. We need to stop sending money to this criminal.
Absolutely, he’s had enough, with his palaces around the world and bugatti…
He’s corrupt as the day is long, willing to see the slaughter of 600000 men for his own means..
The western media have lied yet again, but like all the other bs narratives it’s believed by the masses…
Putin bad, Zelensky good..
Israel good Arabs bad.
And the masses swallow it hook line and sinker, just like covid scandemic..
And The Daily unSceptics who regurgitate Zionist propaganda day in day out……
Bravo!
Yet another Hebe hater.
Putin bad
Zelensky bad
Biden bad
Trump bad
Cameron bad
Sunak bad
Starmer bad
…
There, fixed it. They all demand power because they all think they’re the best and that their amazing ideas need to be forced on others. People who demand power shouldn’t ever be given it.
Spot on! And that includes Power-Crazed Wannabes like real name Olukemi Olufunto Adegoke.
..
Putin Evil, Zelensky Evil: both Globalists in cahoots.
Zelensky needs to get his uncle Joe to send him some more money before that nasty Mr Trump takes over and cuts him off.
I hear he has a lovely place in Italy!
Ukraine “Will Seek Nuclear Weapons” if it Cannot Join NATO, Zelensky Says
The only way forward now is a compromise peace built around partition. This is because the Russians – remember them? – will simply not allow the Ukraine to acquire nuclear weapons.
And who would sell any to them? USA, UK, France, Iran? But it’s likely that some kind of partition, or rearrangement of the borders, is required.
Eastern Ukraine is historically Russian land
And from whom would he acquire them?
Biden’s leaving the Presidency soon, but I’m sure he’d be able to arrange a discrete shipment, in exchange for another whole great metric shedload of cash from his little Hebrew friend Volonogmogomyr, via the military-industrial complex.
.
A dirty bomb is the last throes of the clown prince coke head Zelensky before Russia “liberates” Ukraine from malign Western influence.
Desparate? Deranged!
It is generally accepted that Israel has nuclear weapons, yet it does not deter Iran.
And yet Iran is developing its own nuclear weapon at eye watering expense.
‘in September 2024 the IAEA and E3 estimated that Iran had acquired enough highly enriched uranium that, if enriched further to 90% (weapons grade), would theoretically be enough for four nuclear explosive devices.
Estimates of breakout time do not account, however, for the technological capability and time required to build a deliverable nuclear warhead (which has been estimated by some at 1-2 years). In its 2024 Annual Threat Assessment, the US Office of the Director of National Intelligence concluded that while Iran does not appear to be currently pursuing development of a nuclear device, the nuclear activities undertaken since 2020 “better position it to produce a nuclear device, if it chooses to do so”
Ukraine has a ballistic missile nuclear delivery system. It has uranium. It would be strange if Ukraine was not attempting to develop a complete nuclear weapon capability.
So the question for the EU is: does the EU want to share a border with a nuclear armed Russia or Ukraine sheltering under a nuclear deterrent of its own or sheltering under NATOs conventional deterrent?
”So the question for the EU is:”
The idea of the EU answering such a question presupposes that the EU is a coherent, rational, logical, thoughtful and intelligent organisation……………………. if only!
Very much agree.
Analysis paralysis seems to be the default position of the EU regarding defence; quite possibly without the analysis bit.
In 2021, State Enterprise «National Nuclear Energy Generating Company «Energoatom» began work on establishing the production of nuclear fuel (fuel cassettes) using Westinghouse technology at the Eastern Mining and Processing Plant.
According to the statements of the Minister of Energy of Ukraine Herman Halushchenko, Ukraine is moving forward with a project to create its own fuel production facility.
It is planned to complete licensing in 2023 and start commercial production of nuclear fuel components in 2024.
President of Energoatom Petro Kotin added that by 2026-2027, the company plans to create its own nuclear fuel production line.
‘I really do not know. The President was shocked about Bucha. All of us were shocked about Bucha. I was in Bucha on the second day when the Russian forces were repelled. Zelenskyy completely changed face when he came into Bucha and saw what had happened. A lot of people say it was the Prime Minister Boris Johnson who came to Kiev and put a stop to this negotiation with Russia. I don’t know exactly if that is true or false.’
Oleksiy Arestovych Jan 2024
What a nasty little blackmailer this professional actor is!
One day the world will realise that Tiny Tatar Putin and Tiny Zionist Zelensky have been in cahoots all along, using their Meatgrinder War to exterminate as many Ethnic Europeans as possible. It’s what Globalists do as False Opposition.
Putin fires top official who described Chabad as a supremacist cult | The Times of Israel
Vladimir Putin, Chabad: What’s behind the Russian president’s close relationship with an Orthodox Jewish sect? (slate.com)
Shofars blown in Ukraine frontlines as part of Rosh Hashanah initiative – The Jerusalem Post (jpost.com)
Zelensky’s parents’ local rabbi: They don’t understand why he wanted to be president | The Times of Israel
Absolutely, it’s exactly what the Zionists and friends (Churchill) did in the second world war…getting gentiles to slaughter each other..
This is about creating a second Jewish state….
I presume western leaders and it’s media won’t have a problem with this. They have been telling us that Ukraine is a bastion of democracy and peace being attacked by horrible Putin and his big bad Russia. So I assume they’ll be perfectly happy with Ukraine developing its own nuclear weapons to, you know, promote democracy and peace.
Peace in Ukraine would be so simple. As Russia has always requested: (1) de-militarization, i.e. no NATO and no USA troops in Ukraine, and (2) de-Nazification, i.e. goodbye to Zelensky and his Banderite government.
There you go. No need for any nuclear weapons whatsoever.
And if that piano-playing actor ever did get his hands on nuclear weapons, he would be firing them off to Moscow within seconds. He does not give a damn about anything or anyone except himself. He cares least of all about Ukraine or the Ukrainians, as the result of his totally unnecessary war shows.
Peace in Ukraine would be so simple if it only capitulated!
Somehow, we knew that one already. A better idea for peace in Ukraine would be to teach Putin that he’s free to de-nazify his large intestine for as long as it pleases him and that invasions of foreign countries in order to mess with their internal affairs will only end in defeat.
NB: I don’t see that happening anytime soon but daydreams can sometimes be soothing.
Daydreams of Ukrainians dying because the West wants to pull one over on Putin? Merkel and Hollande did that with the Minsk peace agreements, intending to misuse the supposed truce to bolster Ukraine with western weapons and training. Something to be proud of? Putin never wanted to invade Ukraine but why should he accept western missiles lined up on Russia’s border? Why does Germany now accept having US nuclear missiles back on its soil after such a long time? USA never hesitates to invade any foreign country provided there is plenty of oil they can get their hands on. And tell Israel that invasions of foreign countries will only end in defeat: that is something I could daydream about.
When was it that Putin actually said he would fire nuclear weapons at Ukraine?
I believe he said he would only fire in retaliation to a first strike by another party.
Now what Western politicians and media have said he said is a completely different story.
Anyone who thinks that having a missile and some Uranium is sufficient to build a bomb seems to be ignoring the massive effort and cost involved in moving from Uranium to the level of enriched Uranium required for bomb making, is seriously deluded.
Iran has I believe many thousands of high performance centrifuges, progressively enriching microscopic quantities of Uranium until a critical mass is achieved (not all in one place of course). These have been running for years, and yet it hasn’t yet joined the bomb club.
I doubt if Ukraine has enough electrical power to keep such an enterprise running now, so talk of a nuclear threat from Ukraine is blatant and ill-informed scare mongering.
As the person making this claim is Arestovich, if you believe him then you must also believe what he said about the outline Istanbul peace agreement a couple of years back. You know, the one Johnson is supposed to have vetoed. Arestovich was one of the Ukrainian negotiators so should know what he was talking about.
That’s what you want – nukes in the hands of a desperate and cornered coke addict. As the emotional and spiritual turmoil deepens there arises a desire to end it all even if it isn’t conscious and acknowledged. We are moving into a time where a nuclear holocaust will seem preferable to things carrying on as they are to a lot of people. Obviously a uniquely dangerous moment in our known history. You have to summon the forces to fight against this tendency.
“ Mr. Zelensky and his Government were getting desperate”
Maybe Western taxpayers are also getting pissed off by having their living standard squeezed while billions are guaranteed by SStarmer.