Here's an interesting story. A potential Gordon Brown initiative I actually like? Wow. Hold the phone.

Rumours abound that Gordon Brown is going to alter convention to make the Church of England's appointment of Bishops and Archbishops independent:

The Chancellor of the Exchequer has told senior colleagues that he intends to give the church control over its own senior appointments. At the moment the Prime Minister plays a major role in the appointment of diocesan bishops and has the sole right to nominate deans of most English cathedrals. Mr Brown himself hinted at lifting control of the ecclesiastical appointments in a speech to the Fabian Society last year. Until 1976 the church had no formal role in the appointment of bishops at all, although it was consulted as a matter of courtesy. Thirty years ago, however, James Callaghan then Prime Minister established the Crown Appointments Commission, now renamed the Crown Nominations Commission, which draws up a shortlist of two names which it may offer in order of preference. The Prime Minister chooses either of the names or seeks other names from the Commission. Tony Blair used this veto at least once in 1997 to turn down both candidates proposed for the diocese of Liverpool.

The Prime Minister's appointment secretary plays an active role in the whole process and is a non-voting member of the Commission.

Sources close to Mr Brown, who is a member of the Church of Scotland, indicated that he will introduce the change by producing a memorandum of agreement with the Church’s General Synod. One source said: "Brown does not need to introduce any legislation or take up any parliamentary time in this matter. He is simply altering convention."

The plans seem to be a bit muddled at the moment, but overall I like the idea. Then again, any measures to disentangle the church from the state are obviously going to meet with approval from me.

I think it would not only do our political system good to have the church disestablished, it would do the church a great deal of good too. Politics can so easily muddy the waters of a body seeking be a spiritual guardian to the nation. It can tend to make the church seem like little more than just another pressure group and I'm not sure that's healthy. After all, the whole point is that its power is supposed to come from the "divine" so it shouldn't need government patronage to lead. Then there is also the argument that disestablishment in Wales and Scotland hasn't done it any harm, so England should have no fear of following suit.

It does make me wonder for the future of the House of Lords though. Giving the Church power to appoint its own leaders is an obvious step towards getting rid of the Lords Spiritual. Perhaps this means that Gordon Brown intends to go through with plans to create elected Lords. After all, it would be a virtual impossibility to elect Bishops so they would have to be removed from the chamber at some point. That would make it somewhat ludicrous for the vetting process to still go through the Prime Minister in anything other than a cursory fashion.

Looks like Gordon Brown's constitutional wrecking ball is going to be pretty far reaching if everything goes according to plan...