Although I have visited the Palace of Westminster on a number of occasions I have never been into the debating chamber, but I have seen it on TV on many occasions. I know that by tradition the seating is arranged so that the Government front bench is two clear sword lengths from the Opposition front bench. There is no indication that MPs have ever been allowed to bring swords into the chamber but tradition is tradition. When Charles Barry redesigned the Palace of Westminster in the early 19th Century long after swords were worn by ‘gentlemen’ in polite society, he did so for two made up entirely of men, elected by people of their own class.

Our Parliament is now very different from that of Barry’s day. He provided enough seats for 427 people, which looks inadequate when the building is full, and ridiculous when debates on unpopular issues are being carried out. We now have universal suffrage and whilst the gender mix in the Commons and Lords is frequently criticised, the days of a single gender chamber are over. We also have a Parliament made up of many parties and groups which makes the seating layout totally unsuited to the Parliament of the 21st Century. It is widely recognised that the way in which Prime Ministers Questions is perceived by those of us outside of the Westminster bubble, is eroding trust and confidence in our Government. Both Cameron and Blair promised to remove the bearpit element, yet each succumbed to the physical surroundings and their own tribal instincts. This week we have had the revelations that people such as Damian McBride have been wielding pens and keyboards against members of their own party, let alone those across the debating chamber. When Charles Barry designed his new Parliamentary building, most citizens were not eligible to vote and so issues of public confidence were not high on his brief, and of course there was no way for us to know what was happening unless we were able to visit the chamber in person. This whole building is now in desperate need of a major renovation and so now would in any case be a good time to consider what is needed for our modern Government.

The need to revitalise our democracy is clear to all who are involved and many who are not. Sadly far too few of those on the inside are willing to speak about this openly and in a context where a proper debate can take place. In large part this is a matter of culture. The McBride book shows that the tribalism goes much deeper than inter-party competition and takes us into  intra-party disunity in large dollops.  The image on the left is of the 467 members of the Church of England Parliament or Synod Photographed in a building barely a 5 minute walk from the House of Commons. Would such an arrangement change the dynamic enough to begin to reform the culture of our Mother of Parliaments as part of a much needed re-engagement with the 62 Million people who are represented by our 650 MPs?