he backed it enthusiastically. On the retirement of William Wand, Montgomery Campbell became the Bishop of London in 1956, in which position he also became a Privy Councillor. His election to the See was confirmed on 24 January 1956. He became known for his wit, which was sometimes cutting. In the 1990s, his bons mots were recalled in the columns of The Times. On Mervyn Stockwood's appointment to the bishopric of Southwark, he commented, "I'm taking steps to have the Thames widened"; and later, when encountering Stockwood who was dressed not in the customary black frock coat and gaiters but in purple cassock and cloak, he greeted him, "Hello, Mervyn, incognito I see." He described Geoffrey Fisher, Archbishop of Canterbury, as "a hard man — he boils his eggs in widows' tears". About to interview an ordinand he said, "Come in, Brown. Take a chair." The young man corrected him: "Fiennes-Brown, my Lord." "Take two chairs" was the reply. Commenting on his predecessors and successors at Guildford he said, "The first Bishop of Guildford went out of his mind, the second had no mind to go out of, then they had me, then a saint, and now they have started all over again." At his enthronement as Bishop of London he banged ceremonially with his crosier on the great West door of St Paul's, which there was some delay in opening. He turned to his chaplain and said, "We've come to the wrong place". When the door was finally opened revealing the aged canons of the cathedral, he commented, "The See gives up its dead". A modest man, he called himself "one who is no figure in public life and no scholar, but simply and solely a Father in God who goes round the parishes visiting the chaps – the only thing I am any good at". His obituarist in The Times commented that this was an underestimate of Montgomery Campbell's abilities, and that he was "a wise and discerning administrator, who could quickly grasp the essentials of a situation and impart to it his own sure touch. He was at heart a man of prayer and great dedication." Montgomery Campbell retired effective 31 July 1961. He died at the age of 83 in Westminster Hospital on 26 December 1970 having contracted bronchial pneumonia after falling during a power cut and fracturing his thigh. The funeral was a quiet service