By Tony O’Reilly-
Boris Johnson has ignored a Labour call to apologize to the Archbishop of Canterbury over comments the PM made to a private meeting of Tory MPs.
Mr Johnson reportedly told MPs that the senior clergy had been “less vociferous” in their condemnation of Vladimir Putin than of plans to send asylum seekers to Rwanda.
Sir Keir Starmer demanded an apology at Prime Minister’s Questions in response to Johnson’s criticism of the Archbishop Of Canterbury.
The prime minister was criticizing the Easter Sunday sermon of Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, in which he said that the policy of sending some asylum seekers who arrive in the UK illegally to Rwanda cannot “stand the judgment of God”.
Mr Johnson accused “senior members of the clergy” and the BBC of misconstruing the policy in a speech to Tory MPs on Tuesday evening, a she reacted to the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby’s comments that the policy of sending some asylum seekers who arrive in the UK illegally to Rwanda cannot “stand the judgment of God”.
The PM was attempting to rally support from his MPs after his Commons apology over being fined by the police for breaking Covid laws.
Johnson suggested that the clergy had been less vociferous in condemning Vladimir Putin, according to No 10 sources.
Mr Welby and the Archbishop of York Stephen Cottrell said in a statement issued by Lambeth Palace that they would continue to to oppose the policy on “moral and ethical grounds”.
The two senior clergymen had denounced the invasion of Ukraine as “an act of great evil” and had called for Russian troops to withdraw, the statement added.