Yes, the leader of the Tory Party is a Catholic. So is the leader of the Liberal Democrat Party. And Tony Blair goes to Mass on Sundays and his children are being brought up as Catholics.

I think they've sorted it out now so that there's no impediment to a Catholic being Prime Minister. The job didn't exist after all at the time the Act of Settlement was brought in, and in any case as I read it is just about the monarch himself or herself.

As for Big Tim's query, I suppose this is lawyer's stuff - but it looks to me as if the gist of it is that only a Protestant can actually inherit the throne - and that if they then turn round and become a Catholic they are automatically deposed, and everyone is expected to withdraw their allegiance. On the other hand, if the new monarch then decides to adopt some other religion, so long as they don't want to be a Catholic, there is no constitutional problem.

And all this is probably illegal under Human Rights provisions. It would be fun watching the contortions if Charles were to put it to the test.