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I was presenting Talk Back today and we covered the Church of England's General Synod live on the programme with input from Ruth Gledhill of The Times. She said, "You always know a church leader in in trouble when they blame the press". That's been my experience too, in the main. She was referring to the Rowan Williams story/crisis an his efforts today to . Apparently, his old friend the prime minister has been in touch with the archbishop to sugest, ever so politely, that he should "clarify" his earlier comments. For which, read: "You better put this right fast or I'll be dealing with calls for the disestablishment of the Church of England." Thus, a prime minister raised in a Presbyterian home came to the defence of an archbishop who was raised in a Presbyterian home. The archbishop has since made his speech to the Synod and explained that he accepts full responsibiltiy for any "unclarity" in his earlier comments. Significantly, he also claims that part of his role is to stand up for other religions. (Expect cynics to say: we always knew the Church of England was a broad church, but is it really this broad?) Will this be enough to save the archbishop's bacon? I suspect that Gordon Brown's intervention will serve to calm the storms a little and that Rowan Williams will return to Lambeth less stressed out than he left it. I don't think his resignation was ever a serious possibility, but this whole affair has left him severely weakened; his reputation is in tatters with much of the public, and his moral credibility is at an all-time low. All of which places him in some difficulties as he prepares for the most controversial Lambeth Conference in the history of the Anglican Communion later this year.