Justin Welby ‘to be named archbishop’

Sources have confirmed that the Rt Rev Welby will be announced as the successor to Dr Rowan Williams, the Daily Telegraph reported, after the crown nominations commission put his name forward to Downing Street.

The news comes just hours after it was revealed that Bishop Welby, 56, will not make a scheduled appearance on tomorrow’s recording of BBC Radio 4’s Any Questions at the National Railway Museum at Shildon, Co Durham, a spokesman from his office confirmed.

Bookmakers William Hill and Ladbrokes also fuelled speculation that he is to be appointed after they announced that they had closed their books on betting for the archbishop of canterbury following a rush of bets on Bishop Welby.

The reported confirmation of the Bishop Welby’s appointment as 105th archbishop of Canterbury and spiritual leader of the 77 million strong Anglican communion will be seen as a meteoric rise in the career of the clergyman, who has only been bishop of Durham for one year.

Read more: The race to Lambeth Palace

‘God calling’

The Eton-educated bishop worked in the oil industry for 11 years before leaving to train for the Anglican priesthood. He was first ordained as a deacon in 1992.

“I was unable to get away from a sense of God calling,” he said in an interview.

A Lambeth Palace spokeswoman declined to comment. A Downing Street spokesman refused to confirm or deny the appointment, saying: “an announcement will be made in due course.”

The report comes after several other senior figures in the Church of England were reported as possible contenders to succeed Dr Williams, who leaves after a decade in the post at the end of this year to become master of Magdalene College, Cambridge.