At long last Parliament has approved a bill to end discrimination against Jewish and Catholic prime ministers who have been barred from advising the head of state church on who he should appoint to senior jobs within the church.
This legislation seems to have been prompted by the appointment of a Catholic as prime minister.
It is a mark of Britain’s propensity to put tradition before democracy that this constitutional obscenity was not removed long ago.
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The same could be said about the continuation of the monarchy and of the role of the Church of England as a state church with seats in Parliament.
The National Secular Society reported that in the debate, Labour MP Sam Carling said that the bill’s (to end the discrimination) logic “forces us to ask some other questions about religion in public life”. If faith is no longer a barrier to advising the Crown, why should our public institutions continue to grant unjust privileges to one denomination of one particular faith?