The Prime Minister stands firm amid accusations from Sir Keir Starmer during heated Commons debate
Boris Johnson has dismissed demands to apologise for his remarks about the Archbishop of Canterbury and the BBC during a tense Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday.
Reports from The Telegraph suggest that during a meeting with Conservative MPs on Tuesday night, Johnson allegedly criticised both the BBC and Justin Welby, claiming they were “less vociferous” about the war in Ukraine compared to their opposition to the UK’s immigration agreement with Rwanda. This sparked a sharp response from Sir Keir Starmer, who accused the Prime Minister of “attacking the institutions that underpin our great country.”
Starmer pressed further, accusing Johnson of “slandering decent people” privately while failing to confront the same accusations publicly. “Would the Prime Minister like to take this opportunity to apologise for slandering the Archbishop and the Church of England?” he asked. Johnson, however, did not issue an apology, instead defending his government’s efforts to combat human trafficking across the English Channel and noting that the idea of resettling asylum seekers in Rwanda dates back to David Blunkett’s proposal in 2004.
The plan has drawn criticism from Archbishop Welby, who has described it as “opposite to the nature of God.” Questions around its legality also persist, with Priti Patel having to override opposition from Home Office civil servants through a ministerial directive. Lambeth Palace has reinforced that the Archbishops of Canterbury and York have strongly condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and will continue to oppose the Rwanda plan on moral and ethical grounds.
When questioned about whether he had criticised BBC coverage of the Ukraine war during his closed-door meeting with Tory MPs, Johnson vehemently denied the claim. “I said nothing of the kind,” he told Starmer, asserting his admiration for the work of journalists, especially those reporting on Ukraine. “They do an outstanding job,” he added. “I think he must be out of his tiny mind to suggest otherwise. There are people behind me who will confirm that.”
