Welby quits and hospital chiefs get waiting times warning
Many newspapers carried the headline: Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby has resigned amid damning reports of a prolific child abuser linked to the Church of England. The review found Mr Welby “could and should have” reported John Smith’s abuse of boys and young people to police in 2013. The Daily Mirror said his resignation letter spoke of his “sadness” for Smith’s victims and expressed a “deep sense of shame” over the episode.
Metro said Mr Welby’s resignation came after criticism from bishops and victims and after a petition started by a member of the Church Council, the Synod of Bishops, gained 12,000 signatures.
The resignations have plunged the church into a “crisis”, according to the Daily Mail. The newspaper said victims of Smith’s abuse insisted Mr Welby could not be “expendable” and that other senior clergy must step down.
The Times said the resignation was unprecedented since the position of Archbishop of Canterbury was created 1,427 years ago, but added that Mr Welby’s senior colleagues said there were efforts to “change the face of the church’s handling of abuse cases”. Resignation is necessary. The newspaper also said hospital directors would be sacked if they failed to reduce waiting times in line with a series of reforms announced by Health Minister Wes Streeting. The newspaper said Streeting was planning to introduce a performance league table system for all NHS services and wanted to see a “zero tolerance for failure” policy.
Former prime minister Gordon Brone made a “rare intervention” into government policy and challenged Labour’s decision to retain the two-child benefit cap, the i reported. In an interview with the newspaper, Brown said child poverty remained a “bigger problem than pensioner poverty” and called for a “comprehensive review” of current approaches to tackling the issue. The newspaper said Labor backbenchers were already angry about the restriction and Brown’s comments would “increase pressure on the government” to repeal it.
The Daily Telegraph says one of its writers faces a “Kafkaesque” hate crime investigation over a social media post. Columnist Alison Pearson said two police officers came to her home on Sunday to tell her about the investigation but could not say which post it was about or who made the complaint. The newspaper said that this time last year, Pearson had posted a lot about the October 7 attacks on Israel and the subsequent pro-Palestinian protests in London. Essex Police said the investigation involved a now-deleted post and was being investigated under laws banning material “likely or intended to cause racial hatred”.
According to The Sun , the question of who should replace Gary Lineker as Match of the Day presenter has “raised the curtain”. The newspaper said the BBC wanted Mark Chapman and Kelly Summers to alternate hosting duties, but insiders told the paper Chapman was not keen on the idea. One source was quoted as saying: “This is causing a headache for the BBC”.
The Financial Times reported that Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have both expressed their commitment to improving relations with Iran as they prepare for Donald Trump to be elected president of the United States again. The newspaper said that both countries welcomed Trump’s more confrontational approach to Iran during his first term, but they are now increasingly aware of their vulnerability to Iranian hostility and are eager to avoid further tensions situation. “If Trump puts you in a situation where you have to make a decision because he wants to confront Iran, that’s a big problem,” a senior Arab diplomat said.
