THE Bishop of Worcester, pictured left, has provided food for thought with his suggestion that a Catholic monarch should not be barred from becoming supreme head of the Church of England.

Peter Selby told the Lords last month they should not assume the Catholic Church would refuse to accommodate such a situation.

Peter Luff had the chance to put this claim to the test recently when he interviewed the head of the Catholic Church, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, (pictured right) Archbishop of Westminster, for the Parliamentary magazine, The House.

On the lookout for a scoop, the Mid-Worcestershire MP tried to draw him into the debate surrounding Peter Selby's remarks.

But, as Mr Luff admitted afterwards, the Cardinal was rather too "canny" to fall for that.

"If Roman Catholics were to petition for the removal of any impediments against them in the law of this country, it would be a proper thing to do," the Cardinal told him, beguilingly.