It is neither superheroes nor automata but human beings who pace the corridors of Westminster and Whitehall, often feeling anything but powerful.

Bound by party politics, the executive, the minister, public opinion, the media: sometimes these constraints are real, sometimes not. Who, or what, is running the country? How is power balanced around Parliament Square between the Legislature, the Judiciary and the Executive? What of the soft power of religion and the monarchy? In its autumn programme In Power? Westminster Abbey Institute will offer a series of lectures, dialogues and seminars to explore these pressing questions.