Welby must not be a pawn in Labour’s game

AS Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby must surely be familiar with the parable of the mote and the beam, delivered by Jesus during the Sermon on the Mount. Its essential moral lesson is that we are all sinners and should strive at all costs to avoid hypocrisy.

Judging by his blistering attack at the TUC conference on the evils of Amazon and the so-called gig economy, it’s a lesson the Archbishop has singularly failed to grasp.

In an address dripping with extraordinary hyperbole, he described zero- hours contracts as ‘the reincarnation of an ancient evil’ and characterised Amazon as an unprincipled, tax-avoiding ‘leech’.

What he failed to mention during this tirade, was that the Anglican church has major investments in Amazon – along with other large companies regarded as having poor employment protection.

So by his own logic, the organisation he leads profits from the misery created by ‘evil’ contracts. Isn’t this a glaring – and hypocritical – conflict of interests?

There is also a deeper issue. As head of the Church of England and a good Christian soul, it’s natural that Mr Welby should be concerned about society’s most vulnerable.

But when he enters the bear-pit of party politics and allows himself to be hijacked by one side in order to attack the other, he crosses a truly dangerous line. This is precisely what he’s done here.

As well as lambasting Amazon, the Archbishop launched an intemperate assault on the Government’s welfare reforms, which he said had made poor people poorer and placed them ‘ at heightened risk of hunger’.

Apart from sounding like a Labour press release, this claim is simply poppycock.

Yes, there have been roll- out problems with Universal Credit. But since 2010 a million fewer people live in absolute poverty, employment has surged to record levels and the number of children in workless households has fallen by 637,000.

Doesn’t that suggest at least some measure of success?

Disturbingly for the Church, Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell now claims the Archbishop as an ally in the Left’s fight against ‘Tory austerity’.

So if he wants to avoid being seen as a Labour stooge, Mr Welby should urgently reassess his priorities. He must remember that his role is spiritual, not political, and that his flock includes supporters of every party with all shades of opinion.

Alternatively, if he’d rather be a career politician, he should hang up his mitre and stand for election.