Now Justin Welby faces dropping seat in House of Lords after quitting as Archbishop of Canterbury in ‘disgrace’ over his failure to cease Church of England’s most prolific baby abuser leaving the establishment in disaster

The Church was in turmoil last night after the Archbishop of Canterbury resigned in ‘shame’.

Justin Welby had to step down over his handling of the Church of England’s worst child abuse scandal.

He is the first Archbishop of Canterbury to be forced out of the role after failures meant an abuser was never brought to justice.

Last night survivors warned Mr Welby should not be ‘a sacrificial lamb’ and that other senior clergy implicated in the scandal should also quit. In an unprecedented step, Mr Welby said yesterday he had sought permission from the King to step down ‘in the best interests of the Church’.

His resignation was tended after days of pressure from senior clergy and came after Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer twice failed to back him, saying the victims had been failed ‘very, very badly’.

Last night Downing Street declined to say whether Mr Welby would receive the life peerage customarily given to former Archbishops of Canterbury, with a source adding that it is ‘not automatic’.

His resignation comes after a long-awaited review last week concluded that barrister John Smyth’s ‘abhorrent’ serial abuse of more than 100 boys and young men was covered up within the Church.

The Makin review also criticised the Archbishop for showing a ‘distinct lack of curiosity’ after learning of Smyth’s abuse in 2013, which meant the abuser was never brought to justice before his death in 2018.

In a statement from Lambeth Palace, Mr Welby admitted it was clear he must ‘take personal and institutional responsibility’.

‘Having sought the gracious permission of His Majesty the King, I have decided to resign as Archbishop of Canterbury,’ he said. ‘The Makin Review has exposed the long-maintained conspiracy of silence about the heinous abuses of John Smyth.

‘When I was informed in 2013 and told that police had been notified, I believed wrongly that an appropriate resolution would follow. It is very clear that I must take personal and institutional responsibility for the long and retraumatising period between 2013 and 2024.’

It is likely to be some time before a successor is announced. The statement added that Archbishop Welby will continue to carry out ‘constitutional and Church responsibilities’ until exact dates for a hand-over are confirmed.

Mr Welby added: ‘The last few days have renewed my long felt and profound sense of shame at the historic safeguarding failures of the Church of England. For nearly 12 years I have struggled to introduce improvements. It is for others to judge what has been done.’

He added: ‘I believe that stepping aside is in the best interests of the Church of England, which I dearly love and which I have been honoured to serve. I pray that this decision points us back towards the love that Jesus Christ has for every one of us.’

It is understood that the King exchanged ‘private words’ with the Archbishop yesterday morning. The exchange – between aides from Lambeth Palace and Buckingham Palace – took place before Sir Keir Starmer spoke to reporters at the Cop29 summit at midday.

In a pointed statement, the Prime Minister said Smyth’s abuse was ‘clearly horrific’ and his victims ‘have obviously been failed very, very badly’.

Survivors of Smyth’s abuse welcomed Mr Welby’s resignation and said he has ‘done the right thing’. But they said they want to see other resignations as the ‘list of clergy in the ‘circles of awareness’ is staggering’.

There were calls for the resignation of Rt Rev Stephen Conway, the Bishop of Lincoln, who was implicated in the scandal when he was the Bishop of Ely.

Mark Stibbe, an ex-vicar and author, said: ‘We asked for the Archbishop of Canterbury, who we knew knew about the abuses in 2013, and the Bishop of Ely and other senior figures in the CofE to do the right thing, and Justin Welby has done the right thing.’

He told Channel 4 News: ‘So I applaud Welby for resigning but what I think the survivor group would like is more resignations because that means more accountability, people taking responsibility for having been silent when they should have spoken.’ Another survivor, who reported Smyth’s abuse to the Bishop of Lincoln in 2013, also called for him to step aside last night.

‘He was the person in a position to stop John Smyth, bring him to justice and he fundamentally failed,’ the man told the BBC, adding: ‘I don’t care about his prayers, I want his resignation.’

Bishop Conway apologised following the review, saying: ‘I understand that there were further actions I could have taken following my reporting of the disclosures made to us in the Diocese of Ely about John Smyth.’

The House of Survivors, set up by two victims of abuse, said the Archbishop must not be the only ‘scapegoat’. A spokesman said Mr Welby’s resignation needed to be a ‘sea change moment’ for the CofE in its approach to safeguarding and called for mandatory reporting of concerns. 

He added: ‘A lot of us can see that if Welby ends up becoming the sacrificial lamb then it’s not healthy for the Church, it’s not healthy for him and it’s not healthy for survivors. We need to see the Church taking this a lot more seriously.

‘To some extent Welby going is hugely symbolic, and institutionally it’s very powerful, but in terms of the Makin review there

are plenty more people who need to be accountable.’ Mr Welby’s resignation in such controversial circumstances is unprecedented.

The law requires that an Archbishop of Canterbury retires by the age of 70, meaning 68-year-old Mr Welby would have had almost two more years until a successor was appointed.

It is more common for Archbishops to die in office than to resign, with Thomas Becket being assassinated and Thomas Cranmer executed. Randall Davidson was the first to retire in 1928.

And while Rowan Williams, Lord Williams of Oystermouth, resigned in 2012 at the age of 62, he did so to take up a position as master of Magdalene College, Cambridge.

An Archbishop also needs the monarch’s blessing to quit, which is not guaranteed. When former Archbishop Lord George Carey tried to step down, the late Queen reminded him that she ‘can’t resign either’. A secretive committee, the Crown Nominations Commission (CNC), will be convened to create a shortlist and interview candidates.

It is likely to be fraught, with a two-thirds majority of voting members required to make a recommendation. The CNC will then make its recommendation to the PM, who conveys this to the King ,who ultimately makes the appointment.

The Vile abuser who received Welby’s donations… and Christmas cards 

Who was John Smyth?

John Smyth was a barrister who groomed boys from prestigious public schools at evangelical Christian summer camps before subjecting them to horrific abuse.

The abuse began in England in the early 1970s before Smyth moved to Zimbabwe in 1984 where he ran similar summer camps. He moved again, to South Africa, in 2001 after claims of abuse emerged.

Smyth died aged 77 in Cape Town in 2018 while under investigation by police.

What is the Makin review?

The review, by former social services director Keith Makin, was launched in 2019 to examine the allegations against Smyth and the response of the Church of England.

It was published last week and concluded that Smyth was an ‘appalling abuser’ of more than 100 boys over five decades and three countries. It found he subjected victims to physical, sexual and psychological attacks that permanently marked their lives.

It also concluded that the Anglican Church knew ‘at the highest level’ from July 2013 about Smyth’s abuse and that its response was ‘wholly ineffective and amounted to a cover-up’.

How is Justin Welby linked to Smyth?

The Archbishop of Canterbury attended Christian summer camps alongside Smyth between 1975 and 1979. He worked there as a dormitory officer and even bunked with Smyth twice. In the review, Mr Welby acknowledged that he had been warned by a priest to ‘stay away’ from Smyth in 1981, decades before Smyth’s abuse became public.

Mr Welby and Smyth also exchanged Christmas cards for several years, including while Smyth was living in Zimbabwe. The review found he also made donations to Smyth to support his ministry in Zimbabwe.

Why has he resigned?

The Archbishop knew of the allegations surrounding Smyth by August 2013 after he and other senior Anglican figures were notified.

However, sufficient details were not provided to the police and the case was not followed up by the Church.

It was not until 2017, when the allegations against Smyth emerged in the Press, that the claims were properly reported to police and the Makin review concludes this delay meant Smyth was not brought to justice while he was alive.

The review found that Mr Welby ‘held a personal and moral responsibility to pursue this further’ and the Archbishop acknowledged last week that he did not ‘ensure that this was pursued as energetically, as remorselessly as it should have been’.

What was the tipping point?

Pressure was building on the Archbishop for days after the release of the review – with senior clergy calling for him to step down.

This escalated on Monday when the Bishop of Newcastle, Helen-Ann Hartley, took the unprecedented step of demanding that the Archbishop resign as his position had become untenable.

Survivors of Smyth’s abuse also called for Mr Welby to go and three members of the Church’s ruling body, the General Synod, started a petition calling for him to step down.

Yesterday morning the Prime Minister said Smyth’s victims had been ‘failed very, very badly’ and within hours Mr Welby’s resignation was announced.

What happens now?

The Archbishop’s resignation has been accepted by the King but an exact date has not been announced for his departure and he will continue to carry out his duties for now.

A Crown Nominations Commission (CNC) will soon convene to choose Mr Welby’s successor. The CNC then makes its recommendation to the Prime Minister, who conveys it to the King, who then makes the appointment.