Lords Sacks warns of West’s moral decline as he accepts £1.1 million Templeton Prize

Speaking at Central Hall Westminster, he said this phenomenon had led to - among other consequences - structural unemployment, lowered living standards, the inability of young families to afford a home and the collapse of marriage.

“You can’t outsource conscience. You can’t delegate moral responsibility away,” he said, telling the audience: “We owe it to our children and grandchildren not to throw away what once made the West great”.

He warned that “if we continue to forget that a free society is a moral achievement that depends on habits of responsibility and restraint, then what will come next – be it Russia, China, ISIS or Iran – will be neither liberal nor democratic, and it will certainly not be free.”

The ceremony ended on a joyous note, Lord Sacks was invited to take the microphone and join with the Shabbaton Choir and choir of Sacks Morasha Jewish Primary School in a rousing rendition of Oseh Shalom.

After Lord Sacks was announced as the winner earlier this year, Prince Charles hosted a private reception at Clarence House in his honour.