Good morning. It is 11 years since the archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, was told of allegations against a sadistic abuser of children groomed at evangelical Christian camps. It is seven years since a Channel 4 investigation into John Smyth’s abuse, and six years since Smyth died in South Africa. Now, after a long-awaited review of the Church of England’s handling of the case concluded that it is likely that Welby had at least some sense of concerns about Smyth decades ago, there are growing calls for his resignation.
Those calls intensified yesterday as a petition calling for his resignation created by members of the General Synod drew thousands of signatures – and bishop of Newcastle Helen-Ann Hartley said that his position was “untenable”. Andrew Morse, one of Smyth’s victims, told the Guardian: “His resignation would be a positive step in a very bleak situation … I feel his conscience must be telling him this.”
