Newsnight grills Bishop of Winchester over Justin Welby

In an interview on BBC's Newsnight on Tuesday, November 12, Philip Mountstephen was questioned about his views on the scandal and other figures in the church who were aware of Winchester barrister John Smyth's abuse of dozens of boys.

Host Victoria Derbyshire asked the bishop: “You were shaking your head in horror as Mark Stibbe described his abuse – what’s your reaction to Mr Welby’s resignation?”

READ MORE: Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby resigns over scandal

The Bishop of Winchester appeared on Newsnight (Image: BBC) The Right Rev Philip Mountstephen replied: "Well I certainly want to start by saying that I think first and foremost we should be thinking of the survivors of abuse, those who were appallingly traumatised by John Smyth, who have borne not only the physical, but the emotional scars of that abuse for so many years.

"And it is very easy to get into the politics and the personalities, but there are real people who are at the heart of this who have been deeply, deeply hurt and traumatised. And whatever we think about the position of the Archbishop and anyone else, I think our thoughts and certainly my prayers are with those people."

Ms Derbyshire then asked: "Has Justin Welby made the right decision?"

To this, the Bishop replied: "I think he’s made a very difficult decision. I think he is a man who has a very strong sense of duty of responsibility. He’s a man who has a great desire to address findamental issues: I think that’s been his track record throughout his time as Archbishop.

"He wants to put things right and I think he thought he could do that until we reached a point in all of this where he became the story rather than the solution, and I think at that point he felt he had to go and I think he took a difficult, but in my view, yes, the right decision."

SEE ALSO: John Smyth victim says Justin Welby resignation paves way for questioning others

In a question on other church members complicit in the "cover-up", Ms Derbyshire asked: "The Makin Review pointed out that there are four current serving bishops in the Church of England who knew of Smyth’s behaviour and who didn’t act, not least the current Bishop of Lincoln, Stephen Conway, who was then the Bishop of Ely and who, when he was told in 2013 of Smyth’s abuse, appeared to do very little. Should he resign?"

Philip Mountstephen replied: "I think one of the really important things that the Archbishop said is he takes personal and institutional responsibility for all of this, and I think that does put him in a different place and a different category.

"He leads the Church of England, the Church of England has failed, and he, as the leader, has taken, in his words, institutional responsibility. My expectation in terms of safeguarding practice in the Church of England is that, where there have been failures, those should be investigated [and] appropriate, proportionate action should be taken with anyone who has failed in safeguarding terms whatever their position in the church may be."