Fisher tried to influence the choice of his successor. He preferred the evangelical Donald Coggan, Bishop of Bradford, to the more obvious choice, Ramsey. To Fisher, the latter was too much a party man – too closely allied with the Anglo-Catholic wing of the church. Macmillan, with whom Fisher got on least well of the four prime ministers with whom he had to deal during his time in office, was not swayed by his arguments. Several versions exist of the exchange between archbishop and premier, all to the effect that Fisher said that as Ramsey's former headmaster he did not consider him suitable, to which Macmillan is said to have replied that Fisher may have been Ramsey's headmaster but had never been his, and that he would make up his own mind. Fisher retired on 17 January 1961; Ramsey succeeded him.