The vote on women bishops is a triumph for our diplomatic Archbishop

The result of Monday’s vote on women bishops, the Archbishop of York stipulated, must be greeted in silence, as is the convention at the General Synod. This, perhaps, was a misjudgment: it would have been more natural, surely, to allow an instantaneous mass-whooping for joy and an outbreak of uninhibited Anglican hugging, rather than to force everyone to sit tight through two or three tedious extra amendments and then to make them all stand up and start singing and swaying to ‘We Are Marching in the Light of God’, which was what happened.

But, say those who are delighted with the outcome of the vote, the Archbishops of York and Canterbury must be praised for their work in bringing this vote to fruition. ‘The Archbishop of York was an excellent chairman of the debate,’ said Sally Barnes, media officer of Women and the Church — ‘except at the very end. It was disgraceful to be told to keep quiet and not rejoice.