continues (more at source): The front runner for the job this time around was Aaqil Ahmed, a 39-year-old Muslim who had carved out a successful career at Channel 4 creating critically acclaimed and often controversial religious programming such as Inside the Mind of the Suicide Bomber and the Bafta-winning Saving Africa's Witch Children.

As someone with a long track record of encouraging interfaith dialogue, Dr Williams would have had no problem with a Muslim commissioner as long as he or she continued to cover the Christian faith adequately.