Portrait of the week: Justin Welby resigns, interest rates cut and Trump announces appointments

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Justin Welby resigned as Archbishop of Canterbury, after not reporting to the authorities what he knew in 2013 of the abuse perpetrated by John Smyth QC (who ran Christian summer camps in the 1970s and 1980s and died in 2018). An independent review by Keith Makin found last week that Smyth abused more than 100 young men and boys sexually and by beating. ‘When I was informed in 2013 and told that police had been notified, I believed wrongly that an appropriate resolution would follow,’ Mr Welby said. Gary Lineker, who had presented Match of the Day since 1999, agreed to stand down at the end of the season.

Sue Gray turned down the job as the Prime Minister’s envoy to the nations; the mysterious role was said to be hers after she was dropped in October as his chief of staff. Sir Keir Starmer appointed Jonathan Powell, 68, Tony Blair’s old chief of staff, as his national security adviser.