Welby says it was ‘clear’ he had to quit after Church of England abuse report

Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby said a head had to roll and it was clear he had to stand down after a review criticised him over failures in handling a Church of England abuse scandal.

Mr Welby’s words in the House of Lords are the first time he has spoken publicly since announcing his resignation almost a month ago.

He is due to formally finish in his role as Archbishop of Canterbury on January 6.

It followed days of pressure after the independent Makin Review concluded that John Smyth – thought to be the most prolific serial abuser to be associated with the Church – might have been brought to justice had Mr Welby formally reported him to police in 2013.

Making his valedictory speech in the Lords during a debate on homelessness on Thursday, the Archbishop said: “The reality is that there comes a time if you are technically leading a particular institution or area of responsibility where the shame of what has gone wrong, whether one is personally responsible or not, must require a head to roll.

“And there is only, in this case, one head that rolls well enough.”

With reference to a 14th century predecessor who had been beheaded, he added: “I hope not literally.”

Appearing to lament now-cancelled “detailed and extensive” future plans he had in his role, Mr Welby said his “poor diary secretary” deserved pity after seeing “weeks and months of work disappear in a puff of a resignation announcement”.

Mr Welby said safeguarding in the Church of England is “a completely different picture to the past”, but that it was “clear” he had to quit following the Makin Review.

“However, when I look back at the last 50 or 60 years, not only through the eyes of the Makin report, however one takes one’s view of personal responsibility, it is clear that I had to stand down, and it is for that reason that I do so.”

Mr Welby initially declined to resign when the report was published, saying he had “no idea or suspicion of” Smyth’s abuse before 2013 but acknowledging the review had found that after its wider exposure that year, despite being told police had been notified, he had “personally failed to ensure” it was “energetically investigated”.

In his resignation statement last month, he said he was taking “personal and institutional responsibility for the long and retraumatising period between 2013 and 2024” and spoke of his “profound sense of shame at the historic safeguarding failures of the Church of England”.

Across five decades in three different countries and involving as many as 130 boys and young men in the UK and Africa, Smyth is said to have subjected his victims to traumatic physical, sexual, psychological and spiritual attacks, permanently marking their lives.

Smyth died aged 77 in Cape Town in 2018 while under investigation by Hampshire Police, with the review noting how he was “never brought to justice for the abuse”.

Lambeth Palace confirmed on Wednesday that the King had agreed Mr Welby’s last day in post will be January 6.

Lambeth Palace said he would instead be spending the festive period privately with family.

Thanking Lords staff for their help over the years, Mr Welby also expressed his gratitude to peers.

He told the House: “I’m hugely grateful to noble lords who have been kind enough to send supportive and encouraging notes over the last few weeks.

“It has been a great privilege and strength to have that.”

People who have held the role of Archbishop of Canterbury usually get life peerages on retirement but it is unclear what will happen in the case of Mr Welby.