Archbishop Wanted. Eton-educated ex-big oil exec, no previous experience? Perfect!

his background seems to be a cross between that which would appeal to the British traditional Right (Eton) and the American Right (Big Oil).

Last I heard, I thought it was expected to be Sentamu. Wonder what happened.

Try this:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/9662546/Justin-Welby-to-be-Archbishop-of-Canterbury.html

from Thomas Cranmer onwards make interesting reading.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Archbishops_of_Canterbury

What I noticed was how many of them from the 16th and 17th Century were of humble birth and educated in local community grammar schools (ie Cramner, Parker. Grindal, Abbot, Laud etc) and how many of the recent ones come from more privileged and public school backgrounds.

One of the terrible things about modern Britain is that it appears to have even less social mobility than Tudor or Stuart England. One can not imagine Cameron having a Thomas Wolsey (son of a butcher), Thomas Cromwell (son of a blacksmith) or a Samuel Pepys (son of a tailor) in his cabinet.

a secondary modern, in Carey's case. And Runcie went to a minor public school, from which he seems to be by far the most famous pupil. I think, like politicians, the resurgence of the Eton set is a very recent feature.

though I do agree that the sudden revival of an Eton mafia is recent. The point is that social mobility in the UK seems to have largely died in the 1970s since most of the people now moving into the positions of power were born in that era. And this has occurred even though more people than ever make it into higher and University education. In the end this will lead to an ossified society.

BTW I do not want to particularly slag off the new A of C as he may be very good at the job.

The last time the Prime Minister and Archbishop of Canterbury were both old Etonians...

Of course, I'm sure that many of the non-Etonians came from equally upper-class backgrounds; but still it's a bit of a sign of the times. At least, Welby is old enough that he can't have been appointed just because he was Cameron's pal. But what happened to Sentamu, or was I just totally confused in thinking he was the likely heir?

described him as 'just another Left-wing Establishment bureaucrat'. Mullen is an insane nutcase clergyman, who once said that gays should be forced to have tattoos to the effect that 'sodomy can seriously damage your health', and who himself was kicked out of one vicarship because he committed adultery with a parishioner. In one of his recent Torygraph articles, he wrote, 'From the four horsemen of the culture of death – the NHS, state education, abortion and euthanasia – Good Lord deliver us.'

Mind you, Mullen would probably have called Attila the Hun 'just another Left-wing Establishment bureaucrat'; so this may not be saying much.