Another classic piece of Anglican chutzpah was Williams’s claim that the job of the bishops was not to represent the interests of the Church of England at all. In fact, they were “bishops of the realm”, uniquely able to provide a “faith perspective” on legislation.

One thing above all stood out from (the Archbishop of Canterbury) Rowan Williams’s evidence yesterday evening to the Parliamentary committee looking at proposals to reform the House of Lords, and that is that the Church of England is very keen to maintain its peculiar historic privilege of having bishops in the legislature. Indeed, he and the church he leads see it as a vital part of their wider role in British society.

The present situation might be seen as anomalous, he conceded (albeit “a constructive anomaly”). There were no ecclesiastical representatives deputed from Scotland (where the Presbyterian church also has official status) or from Wales or Northern Ireland, where there are no established churches.

In a multi-faith society the absence of automatic representation for other religions might also be seen as problematic. Williams wouldn’t object were some mechanism found for incorporating Jewish, Muslim or Hindu leaders, though he foresaw problems in identifying such leaders. But he didn’t seem to think of this as much as a priority, in any case, since the religious voice was so well represented already by himself and by his fellow Anglican prelates.

It’s at times like these that you realise the centrality of its legal establishment to the Church of England’s sense of itself. The word is not ill-chosen. The church is indeed part of the British Establishment, and it shares vital characteristics with other parts of the country’s ruling elite: an air of benignity and good intentions, impeccable good manners, a ready espousal of progressive ideals (more recently coupled with an enthusiasm for fashionable jargon), above all a sense of unshakable entitlement to its own historic privileges and a rat-like cunning in preserving them.

A perfect illustration of the latter came in what was by far the most newsworthy part of the Archbishop of Canterbury’s presentation — his suggestion that the first women bishops be fast-tracked into the House of Lords, thus avoiding a long wait until one of them achieved the necessary seniority. The church, he said, was “very conscious that one of the reproaches that can be laid against the bench [of bishops] is that it’s not exactly representative in gender terms.”

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