Today’s political culture is “rancid and dangerous” and Boris Johnson should be ashamed of telling a lie that led to street violence, a senior Church of England bishop has said.
Paul Bayes, the bishop of Liverpool, said the UK was facing a “struggle between those in whose interest it is to fragment society and those who want to sustain the common good”.
Speaking on the eve of his retirement, Bayes also said church law should change to define marriage as between two people regardless of gender – a highly controversial move that would overturn centuries of traditional biblical teaching.
Bayes said Johnson should take “serious stock of his position” after he told parliament that Keir Starmer had failed to prosecute the paedophile Jimmy Savile. Two days later, Starmer had to seek refuge from a mob accusing him of being a “paedophile protector”.
Bayes said: “I do not believe that was an honest statement, and I think [Johnson] should be ashamed of it. And the folks who trotted out to say ‘it’s not really a problem, it’s all part of the rough and tumble of politics’ should share that shame …
“The parallel in my mind is Donald Trump. [Johnson] is showing us who he is, and people seem to want that in politics. And I regret that. We need a politics that doesn’t have room for lies told in the House of Commons that might produce street violence two days afterwards.” » | Harriet Sherwood | Saturday, February 12, 2022
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