Tomorrow’s Telegraph will run the story, predicting that Archbishop Rowan Williams will resign next year, after the legislation to permit women bishops passes General Synod. He would be required to retire at 70, and he’s only 61.
No doubt many Episcopalians will be glad to see him go, but they should remember the joy with which many of us greeted his elevation. We should also remember that with a Tory government in power, the possibilities for his replacement might not be any more agreeable to us than Rowan was, and will definitely not be as gifted a theologian.
It’s said that he wants to return to academe and that Trinity College, Cambridge is preparing a chair for him. In other words, he may have decided to follow Bishop Neil Alexander’s example–the Bishop of Atlanta announced his resignation to take up a teaching post at Candler School of Theology.
Preaching Grace on the Square 
I wouldn’t worry too much about Tory interference. Nowadays, the Prime Minister’s role in choosing bishops is largely formal. The Crown Nominations Commission will send him two names and, chances are, he’ll submit the first one to the Queen for her formal approval. Theoretically, he could submit the second name or even ask for an entirely new list of names, but in the end he can only choose someone who has the support of the Crown Nominations Commission.