The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, spent more than £45,500 on hospitality at Lambeth Palace last year, twice the previous year.
It also emerged that bishops can pay their wives for catering.
Dr Williams’s bill was more than double the previous year’s total of £21,387 for church meetings and functions.
Based on the title of the article I was bracing myself for a really scandalous figure. So one can imagine my surprise when I read £45,000 (about $72,000 USD). Now that is a lot of money to people like me and probably most of the people on this blog. But Dr. Williams is not “most people.” For better or worse, he holds a position where a great deal of official travel and at least some entertaining is a part of the job.
I really just don’t find the number quoted to be suggestive of any kind of abuse of the purse. To be honest my biggest surprise was last year’s figures. People spend more than that on a (1) high end wedding reception. However he got by on that for a whole year (unless he never entertained at all) leaves me in some wonder.
The bottom line for me is that, while I have my issues with Dr. Williams, I don’t think this is grounds for any serious criticism.
Perhaps Spong suggested they were all for chicken dinners and gave the writer a fiver for the headline and soin?