# Holy Smoke: Catholic Burnham barred – should the law change?

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/best-of-the-spectator-45373/holy-smoke-catholic-burnham-barred-should-the-law-change
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/best-of-the-spectator-45373/holy-smoke-catholic-burnham-barred-should-the-law-change.md
Podcast: [Best of the Spectator](https://stenobird.com/podcast/best-of-the-spectator-45373)
Published: 2026-09-13T00:00:00+00:00
Episode link: https://shows.acast.com/best-of-the-spectator/episodes/holy-smoke-catholic-burnham-barred-should-the-law-change
Audio file: https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/68358fb5e1abc4be6b0308eb/e/6aa42f2eeeff2d17d3565c78/media.mp3?tk=eyJ0ayI6ImRlZmF1bHQiLCJhZHMiOnRydWUsInNwb25zIjp0cnVlLCJzdGF0dXMiOiJwdWJsaWMifQ==&sig=BZMWYf-TwV29z9tnBzdyAIkphxCL_kNGMNVQ4Whmn9k
Processing state: not_requested
JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/best-of-the-spectator-45373/episodes/holy-smoke-catholic-burnham-barred-should-the-law-change
Duration seconds: 883

## Resource

Andy Burnham has announced his intention to change a law which bars him from advising the King on appointments to the Church of England. The Victorian-era law explicitly bars Catholics like Burnham, as well as Jews – but doesn't prevent those of other Christian denominations, other faiths – like Hindu Rishi Sunak, or atheists like Keir Starmer. So, if the law is going to be changed to address this anomaly, should it allow all Prime Ministers of any faith to provide advice – or should all non-Anglicans be barred? And what does Burnham's interest in the power tell us about his relationship with his faith – and his approach to the job? The Spectator 's James Heale and William Moore join Damian Thompson to discuss. Produced by Patrick Gibbons. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

## Actions

- request_transcript: `POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/best-of-the-spectator-45373/episodes/holy-smoke-catholic-burnham-barred-should-the-law-change/transcription-requests` — Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode.
- read_markdown: `GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/best-of-the-spectator-45373/holy-smoke-catholic-burnham-barred-should-the-law-change.md` — Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource.

A page view does not enqueue transcription. Agents should invoke `request_transcript` explicitly when they need this episode processed.

## Transcript

Full transcripts are not published on public pages unless there is a clear rights basis.