[1] He had previously served as Bishop of Stafford in the Diocese of Lichfield from 1987 and before that as a canon residentiary at St Albans Cathedral.

He chaired a Church of England committee in 2000, which urged a lifting of the ban on remarriage of divorcees whose former spouse was still living.

In the event, the wedding of Prince Charles and Parker Bowles took the form of a civil marriage which was immediately followed by a service of blessing in St George's Chapel, Windsor.

[8] The other nine diocesan bishop signatories were: Michael Langrish (Exeter), Michael Nazir-Ali (Rochester), Peter Forster (Chester), James Jones (Liverpool), George Cassidy (Southwell & Nottingham), Graham Dow (Carlisle), John Hind (Chichester) and David James (Bradford).

[10] In 2008, he said, in relation to the exclusion of Christians in same-sex relationships from positions of leadership (such as bishoprics like his own): "I see no future for the Anglican Communion as we know it, or for the Church of England as we know it, if either deserts this teaching.