Westminster was bathed in sunshine yesterday for the “God and Government” conference arranged by the Theos thinktank at St Matthews Church a mere 600 metres from the House of Commons. To a large extent  the focus both geographically and in terms of many of the words on the day was on the traditional sources of power usually represented in the debating chamber a few metres away. However there were also glimpses of the need to consider new ways of engaging with electors and residents, perhaps reflecting the discomfort being felt by our more astute party political leaders when they realise that their goose is slowly being cooked in an oven of their own making. Paul Bickley spoke passionately about the way in which local communities are no longer able to see themselves reflected in the way our Councils and Government is organised and the need to find new ways of operating. No one that I heard speak, referred to the piece in the Financial Times and repeated in many of the other papers based on the interview by Michael Gove in which he declared the number of Eton old boys surrounding the Prime Minister to be preposterous, before preposterously claiming this was not the fault of the people involved, but in fact the failing is in the state school system. If ever there was an peverse line of thought that idea must be at the end of it. However we don’t need Michael Gove to help us see the system is slowly crumbling.

In the afternoon of the conference I sat in the sunshine in a wonderful little garden in the centre of the Church and conference centre, craning my neck every few minutes to see the latest helicopter flying above my head, and listening to the chimes from Big Ben. The sound from the Bell was very reassuring, and in the lovely weather it is easy to understand why our Political classes are so committed to the square mile of Westminster. Yet this location, reassuring to the Crown, the Parliament and the national Church creates a large part of the problem for the majority of the 60M people in the nation. As I sat in the garden idyll, others at the conference attended sessions run by the three main political parties. They were not exclusive sessions, but I did not have the heart to try to choose which group I should attend as an outsider when the sunshine, plants, bells and helicopters had so much more to offer.

The future of political leadership in our nation may be retained by the main parties in the way it is now, however the future could also be a foreign country and that is where my expectations lie. That is why I am hoping that next time Theos hold a conference they will do so outside of Westminster. Of course that will disadvantage many people including myself who attended yesterday, because getting into Central London is so much easier for most people. However the location simply reinforces the idea that politics happens first and foremost in the Westminster village. I hope that they will also create some space for those of us whose confidence in the current Political Parties is at an all time low, yet who recognise that the current system will not collapse overnight. We cannot expect a revolution, but if we do not prepare for radical change, we will be as relevant as the Cameroonian Eton old boys to the nation outside of the golden mile. Perhaps we could hold a discussion, all being well in a sunny garden, that explores how to go beyond the local organising and local activism which many faith communities are fully involved in across the nation, and takes us into local decision making without feeling obliged to go through a party political shaped door to get there. This is not about privilege or preference for people who may have a faith, but rather a matter of allowing the experience that local groups have gained through food banks, Street Pastor schemes and anti Slavery networks to help shape local and national policies on food poverty, alcohol licensing and people trafficking to name three.