Ugandan-born Dr Sentamu, who came to Britain in the 1970s, said it was important to remember that Britain had always provided refuge for economic migrants.
He said 250,000 Jewish people had come before the First World War, and had integrated and been accepted.
‘What happened after the Second World War was a different phenomenon,’ Dr Sentamu continued.
‘For the first time, significant numbers of immigrants from a non Judaeo-Christian background settled in the UK.’
He referred to the view of Chief Rabbi Sir Jonathan Sacks that until the 1950s immigrants were like guests in a country house, who were expected to assimilate British values and to belong to the existing society.
But with the decline of empire and the growth of Commonwealth immigration, the pattern had become more like a hotel.
