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The BBC Today presenter and the Bishop of Worcester, John Inge, engaged in a heated discussion after the cleric defended a tweet in which he criticised chief aide Dominic Cummings. Mr Cummings came under fire over the weekend after it was revealed he had travelled to Durham at the peak of the coronavirus pandemic to seek his parents’ help with his sons over fears of developing the coronavirus. But BBC presenter Justin Webb insisted Bishop Inge cannot speak for his whole flock when expressing such political views.

Mr Webb said: “Does it not worry you, as a spiritual leader, will not be representing the views of quite a few people in the Church of England.

“Indeed, quite a few people in your area.

“Giles Fraser, the very prominent cleric, said yesterday the Bishops of the Church of England could be a teeny-weeny bit more representative of the politics of the country as a whole.

“What he meant by that, presumably, is that you are all Remainers and you don’t like Dominic Cummings and that’s it.”

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The Bishop of Worcester insisted his concerns about Mr Cummings breaking lockdown rules was a “matter of life and death” after so many Britons were forced to remain isolated to keep COVID-19 from spreading further.

Bishop Inge said: “I can genuinely say I have no gripes with Dominic Cummings.

“But I’m interested in truth, I am interested in the safety of the British people and I am interested in the government advice being taken seriously.

“Until a satisfactory explanation was given, that was put at risk.”

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He added: ” I think Bishops have a legitimate interest in matters of life and death and indeed the safety of the British people.

“We are very often criticised for not speaking out about things, and we’re speaking out if we are.”

The controversy over the Bishop of Worcester was sparked after the cleric shared a critical tweet aimed at Boris Johnson on his personal Twitter account.

The tweet read: “The PM’s risible defence of Cummings is an insult to all those who have made such sacrifices to ensure the safety of others.”

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The Bishop later confirmed his original tweet had resulted in him receiving a death threat.

Taking back to Twitter, the cleric said: “Received a delightful e-mail earlier: ‘Stay out of politics or we’ll kill you.’

“For me, the whole Cummings drama is not about politics but life and death.

“If trust in Government guidance is eroded we’ll have a second spike and 1000s of lives will be lost.”

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