It was so understated and English that it seemed at the heart of democracy.

That was at the Hinsley Room in a side street round the back of Westminster Cathedral. The salvias and the lawn (which never prospered even when delivered from the footfall of voters) have recently been replaced by a lovely roundel depicting, in black and white pebbles, the Pelican in her Piety, an emblem of the cathedral, which is dedicated to the Precious Blood. It was designed by Julie Doyle, a garden mosaicist.