King must avoid taint of political partiality
Daily Mail editorial:
We hate to be uncharitable on the eve of Christmas. This is, after all, the season of goodwill to all men.
Still, it is impossible not to raise a puzzled eyebrow at King Charles’s decision to bestow a personal honour on the Archbishop of Canterbury simply for doing his job.
It’s true, of course, that in the past year or so, Justin Welby has played a particularly prominent role in the life of our nation.
The monarch is no doubt grateful that on an intensely emotional day in September 2022, he presided over the late Queen’s state funeral with calm dignity.
And that eight months later, as the Church of England’s leading cleric, he helped to ensure that Charles’s coronation went without a hitch.
The King evidently felt this creditable service worthy of special recognition. Consequently, he has made Dr Welby a knight of the Royal Victorian Order, a rare honour at the discretion of the sovereign.
However, some may feel uncertain about the merits of this extra gong. He is supposed primarily to be a humble servant of God. Tossing him an extra secular honour for good conduct puts him in the same bracket as time-serving Whitehall mandarins.
There is also a risk that Charles could be seen to be performing a political act. In his time as supreme primate, Dr Welby has been outspoken and sometimes divisive.
His views are generally woke and fashionable and he is certainly no friend of the Tories.
He has opposed them on almost every political issue from Rwanda, through Brexit to welfare dependency. No wonder the Church of England has a reputation for being the centre-Left at prayer.
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