Archbishop returns to ministry

The Archbishop of York, Dr David Hope, will swap the grandeur of a palace for a humble parish vicarage after he announced his resignation yesterday as the Church of England’s second most senior clergyman.

Dr Hope, archbishop since 1995, will give up Bishopthorpe Palace near York to become a parish priest in Ilkley near Bradford.

He has made no secret of his long held wish to return to the “real ministry” of parish life - and will take a pay cut of around £40,000 a year.

Dr Hope, aged 64, has been appointed as vicar of St Margaret’s in Ilkley and will cease to be Archbishop from February to take up his new post in March next year.

He is an anglo-catholic and has been at odds in the past with the more liberal wing of the church over the row involving women and gay priests.