Boris, bishops and other gossip from the Spectator Parliamentarian awards

Justin Welby, the nominated Archbishop of Canterbury, accepted his Spectator award for Peer of the Year (in recognition of his work on the Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards) by conceding that, after the General Synod rejected women bishops yesterday, he has achieved the rare distinction of losing a vote of confidence without having assumed office. This joke was the start of a masterful comic performance in what was, clearly, an off-the-cuff speech.

He went on to correct the Spectator: we had described him as a former banker when in fact he is a former financier of an oil firm (Treasurer at Enterprise Oil). ‘I learned to hate them then,’ he said with twinkling jest rather than righteous indignation.