A Tory MP has demanded that the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby be hauled before the powerful Commons Home Affairs Select Committee to explain the Church’s role in facilitating illegal migration to the UK.
Dudley North MP Marco Longhi, a member of the committee, has put in a request to its chairwoman Dame Diana Johnson demanding that Britain’s most senior cleric be brought before them to “explain his and the Church of England’s antics”.
It comes after it emerged that the Church had provided protection to the chief suspect in the Clapham acid attack Abdul Ezedi after he had failed to get asylum twice and had been convicted of a sex attack in 2018.
Ezedi’s third attempt to get granted asylum was successful because the Church of England said he had “converted to Christianity” so would face persecution back in Afghanistan.
The Church of England washed its hands of blame for a series of events which have now left a woman with life-changing injuries and two children seriously hurt.
A Church spokesman said: “It is the role of the Home Office, and not the Church, to vet asylum seekers and judge the merits of their individual cases.”
But Express.co.uk has revealed Church of England documents aimed at helping priests to game the asylum system and support illegal migrants in their efforts to stay in the UK.
The guide entitled “Supporting Asylum Seekers – Guidance for Church of England Clergy” underlines that the assault on the UK protecting its borders against dangerous criminals and terrorists is “being orchestrated” by the top of the Church of England, according to Tory MPs.
Added to that Welby and the bishops sitting in the House of Lords courtesy of medieval rights for the Church of England have led the opposition to attempts to try to tighten up the law to protect UK borders.
Just last month they led opposition in the Lords to the Rwanda Bill which would allow the deportation of illegal migrants arriving on small boats across the Channel to be deported to east Africa.
Tory MPs now believe that the Archbishop needs to face scrutiny for his role and that of the Church of England he leads.
Mr Longhi told Express.co.uk: “I have put in a request to the committee chair for the Archbishop to appear before us.
“It is only right that he explains his antics and those of the clergy in his church especially in light of this horrible crime in Clapham.
“We need to know whether this is ideologically driven, he needs to explain what he is trying to achieve in the Lords and there need to be questions asked about what checks if any at all clergy are doing on those who supposedly convert to Christianity.”
Mr Longhi is being backed by his fellow committee member Lee Anderson who also earlier pointed out that Rwanda, where the Tories hope to deport illegal migrants, is a Christian country.
Archbishop Welby has been leading attempts to stop the Rwanda Bill, but Anderson noted: “It’s not all bad news. The majority of Rwanda’s population is Christian. About 45 percent belong to the Catholic faith, 35 percent to the Protestant faith.
“So actually the Church is preparing the Illegal migrants for a Christian life in Rwanda. Let’s see how many convert to Christianity once they find this out.”
