Justin Welby apologises after causing ‘hurt’ in farewell speech

Justin Welby can’t seem to get anything right these days – not even his own leaving speech. Now the outgoing Archbishop of Canterbury has been forced to apologise for the gag-filled monologue he delivered to the House of Lords on Thursday after causing a rather lot of offence with his choice of language. Dear oh dear… 

The Archbishop today announced he ‘would like to apologise wholeheartedly for the hurt’ he caused after his quite controversial remarks – including a reference to an historic beheading – went down badly with both abuse survivors and fellow bishops. Nodding to the Makin Review into an abuse scandal in the Church which was the catalyst for the Archbishop’s resignation, Welby told his audience a ‘head’ had to ‘roll’, adding: ‘If you pity anyone, pity my poor diary secretary who’s seen weeks and months of work disappear in a puff of my resignation announcement.’ Er, right. The ill-judged monologue caused Bishop of London Sarah Mullally to facepalm while the Bishop of Newcastle Helen-Ann Hartley later admitted she was ‘deeply disturbed’ by parts of the talk.