Justin Welby: Archbishop urges forgiveness amid political lobbying row

The Archbishop of Canterbury has urged "forgiveness and compassion" for politicians, amid a row over lobbying.

Justin Welby told the BBC's Political Thinking podcast that morality had more "bite" than it used to in politics.

And he told host Nick Robinson "no 19th Century politician" would survive today's standards "for one week".

It comes amid controversy over contacts between senior political figures, including Boris Johnson and former PM David Cameron, and business.

The row has sparked a wider debate about standards in public life and the transparency rules followed by current and former politicians.

During an interview to be broadcast on Friday, Archbishop Welby said it was important to hold politicians to moral standards.

But he added: "If you're going to raise standards, you need to have a strong ethic of forgiveness and compassion and understanding,

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"We have raised our standards and raised our standards and of course it's not right to help out your chums or lobby inappropriately or whatever it happens to be."

"But the standards now are at a level that no 19th Century politician would have survived for one week.

"So, it's not that morality has disappeared; it's that morality has got much more sting and bite than it ever used to."

Warning against a "golden age myth" about the behaviour of politicians in the past, he added: "Let's not pretend that politicians are worse; if anything they're better."

Politicians 'not flawless'

Elsewhere in the interview, he said the "vast majority" of politicians he speaks to privately are passionate about trying "to make some good progress".

"Politicians are human beings. If we want perfect politicians we won't have anyone sitting in the House of Commons," he added.

"We'll never have another prime minister. We can't have a royal family. There's nobody who can rule if we insist they're faultless and flawless.

"And when we do that, which we do too often, we lead to hypocrisy and all kinds of things."

You can download the full podcast on Friday 23 April. It will also be broadcast on BBC Radio 4 at 17.30BST on Saturday 24 April.