Dr Rowan Williams admitted that his decision to speak out over a range of issues including coalition economic policy was at times "risky" but he said this was part of his role as leader of the Church of England. In a question and answer session following a lecture hosted by the Theos think tank in central London, he admitted: "I do regrets all right."

But he said: "I just don't think that it will do to be too cautious in a job like this, you are here, as is true for any archbishop, you are here to try and say what you believe you have been given to say - by which I don't mean by divine inspiration.

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