Dr Michael Nazir-Ali, aged 59, has announced his retirement as Bishop of Rochester, effective in September this year. Having been diocesan bishop for 15 years and the 'runner up' for the post of Archbishop of Canterbury on the retirement of George Carey, Nazir-Ali has been a rallying point for conservative evangelicals in the Anglican Communion.

He declined the invitation to Lambeth 2008 but instead delivered an address at GAFCON. He had helped organise the 1988 Lambeth as well as attending Lambeth 1998.  Dr Nazir-Ali plans to direct his future ministry to helping minority Christian groups in Pakistan, the Middle East and in the UK.

He has been outspoken in the cause of Christ in the public square:
'Nurses cannot pray, the creed cannot be recited at Christian services for fear of offending nonbelievers, Christian marriage counsellors are removed because they believe in Christian marriage and Christian adoption agencies cannot be publicly funded because they believe that children are best brought up in a family with a mother and father to look after them.'

He laments the retreat of Christianity and the rise of Islam in Britain and received death threats after claiming that parts of Britain had become 'no-go areas' for non-Muslims.  By contrast, the Archbishop of Canterbury has controversially and unwisely urged the adoption of elements of Shariah law into the British legal system.

Dr Rowan Williams, the 104th occupant of the See of Canterbury, like Nazir-Ali, read theology at Cambridge and is in his 59th year. Williams has fought to preserve the Anglican Communion intact for his successor. This has meant holding a 'do nothing' decision-less Lambeth (which has made a loss of 288,000 pounds).

The February 2009 Primates Meeting was a fizz. The next 'instrument of communion' activity is the Anglican Consultative Council meeting in May in Jamaica. After that, nothing is in the diary. I understand that key Lambeth Palace staff have moved to other jobs. Over at the Anglican Communion Office, the long-term publicity officer, Jim Rosenthal is now a deacon in a London parish and Gregory Cameron, who has provided the intellectual and theological muscle, is to be a bishop in Wales. The new North American Province will be inaugurated by mid-year and a second GAFCON is on the cards.

The end of the Consultative Council meeting would be a very convenient time for the Archbishop of Canterbury to announce a retirement.