Archbishop of Canterbury hits back at MP criticising bishops ‘using pulpit to preach’

MP’s comments come after High Court rules government’s Rwanda policy as lawful

The Archbishop of Canterbury has hit back at a Tory MP who criticised Church of England bishops for “using the pulpit to preach from”.

Jonathan Gullis, MP for Stoke on Trent, ridiculed the senior clerics for “preaching” about refugees after they criticised the government's plan to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda.

Archbishop Justin Welby took to Twitter to respond to the MP’s comments.

Referencing The Independent’s article, he wrote: “Always grateful for feedback - look forward to advice on what we should be doing in the pulpit.

“Just to confirm: we’ll be continuing to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ.”

Mr Gullis’s comments came after the High Court ruled on Monday that the government’s controversial Rwanda policy was lawful.

Ahead of the first deportation flight which was due to take off on 14 June, Justin Welby, the Archbishop of York, Stephen Cottrell, and 23 other bishops criticised the government's plans, describing refugees as “the vulnerable that the Old Testament calls us to value”.

They also urged the government to scrap the plan, calling it “immoral” and against the teachings of Jesus to offer hospitality to strangers.

Mr Gullis went on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Monday following the judgment to defend the policy.

When the bishop’s criticism that the policy is “one that should shame us as a nation” was put to him, Mr Gullis replied: “I don’t think unelected bishops in the House of Lords should be preaching about politics.

“I think they should be looking in-house at the wide abuse claims that have gone on and the Archbishop of Canterbury should be spending his time focusing on [inaudible] the Church’s reputation.

“And I sadly think that too many people are using the pulpit to preach from.”

Mr Gullis went on to describe bishops as “out of touch with the overwhelming majority of this great country”– before adding that the UK had a “democratic mandate to leave the European Union”.