# Sonia Poulton - The DARK Truth About Ex-Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby & John Smyth Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-daily-heretic-7574275/sonia-poulton-the-dark-truth-about-ex-archbishop-of-canterbury-justin-welby-john-smyth Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-daily-heretic-7574275/sonia-poulton-the-dark-truth-about-ex-archbishop-of-canterbury-justin-welby-john-smyth.md Podcast: [The Daily Heretic](https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-daily-heretic-7574275) Published: 2026-07-29T15:00:00+00:00 Episode link: https://traffic.megaphone.fm/OTEP2566295041.mp3 Audio file: https://traffic.megaphone.fm/OTEP2566295041.mp3 Processing state: not_requested JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-daily-heretic-7574275/episodes/sonia-poulton-the-dark-truth-about-ex-archbishop-of-canterbury-justin-welby-john-smyth Duration seconds: 573 ## Resource What really happened inside one of the biggest scandals ever to hit the Church of England? Why have questions surrounding former Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby and the late John Smyth continued to provoke outrage, scrutiny, and calls for accountability? And what does journalist Sonia Poulton believe this case reveals about power, institutions, and the failures of leadership? 👉 Subscribe to The Daily Heretic for fearless conversations and unfiltered interviews: https://www.youtube.com/@hereticsclips/videos Few stories have shaken public confidence in British institutions quite like the controversy surrounding John Smyth and the Church of England. For years, questions have been asked about what was known, who knew it, and whether opportunities to act were missed. The fallout has triggered intense debate about leadership, responsibility, transparency, and institutional accountability at the highest levels. In this powerful conversation, journalist Sonia Poulton joins Andrew Gold to examine the wider implications of the scandal and why she believes the story remains one of the most important institutional failures in modern British history. How did concerns surrounding John Smyth become such a major issue? Why has the role of senior church figures come under such scrutiny? And what lessons should institutions learn when faced with allegations that demand decisive action? This episode explores Justin Welby, John Smyth, the Church of England, institutional accountability, leadership, public trust, investigative journalism, transparency, reputation management, public scrutiny, British institutions, safeguarding failures, media coverage, current affairs, and public confidence. Poulton discusses why public trust can be damaged when institutions appear reluctant or unable… ## Actions - request_transcript: `POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-daily-heretic-7574275/episodes/sonia-poulton-the-dark-truth-about-ex-archbishop-of-canterbury-justin-welby-john-smyth/transcription-requests` — Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode. - read_markdown: `GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-daily-heretic-7574275/sonia-poulton-the-dark-truth-about-ex-archbishop-of-canterbury-justin-welby-john-smyth.md` — Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource. A page view does not enqueue transcription. Agents should invoke `request_transcript` explicitly when they need this episode processed. ## Transcript Full transcripts are not published on public pages unless there is a clear rights basis.