Boris Johnson has refused to apologise to Justin Welby during Prime Minister’s Questions after he was reported to have hit out at the Archbishop of Canterbury over his criticism of the Government’s Rwanda migrant plan.
In a speech to Conservative backbenchers on Tuesday night, the Prime Minister said both the BBC and the Archbishop were “less vociferous” in their criticism of the Russian leader than the government over the controversial refugee proposal, reported the Telegraph.
Sir Keir Starmer on Wednesday accused Mr Johnson of “slandering decent people in a private room, let the slander spread, without the backbone to repeat it in public”.
“Would the PM like to take this opportunity to apologise for slandering the Archbishop and the Church of England?
“How can the PM claim to be a patriot when he deliberately attacks and degrades the institutions of our great country?”
Mr Johnson however said he did not attack the BBC. He did not mention the Archbishop.
“It is in an indication of the depths to which he is willing to sink that he accuses me of traducing journalists, what he says is completely without any foundation whatever, I did not attack the BBC last night.
“For their coverage of Ukraine? He must be out of his tiny mind. I said no such thing and there are people behind who will testify to that.”
