A time of major turmoil on the political scene

The oft-uttered statement was almost made for discussion around political parties.

Regardless of the colour, these organisations are broad churches where rhetoric, ideas and discussion inevitably come with the territory.

Rarely, though, have things been this disjointed with the UK’s two major parties.

‎Let’s start with the Conservatives, the party of Government.

David Cameron was probably the only person in the country who was not shocked when his party won an overall majority at last year’s general election.

During his six-year tenure as premier he has rarely looked fazed by anything, batting away difficult topics‎ like a cow does flies.

But this untroubled persona of a PR man-turned-politician has taken a bit of a hammering ‎in the last fortnight.

First there was the European Union membership negotiations.

This was always to be a can of worms, ‎with those on the outside baying for blood in an effort to speed up Brexit, while those committed inners‎ were upset that renegotiation of membership was even on the agenda.

Cameron seemed to emerge from days of meetings with Brussels bureaucrats with credibility – but then five of his cabinet ministers immediately announced they would be opposing him on this issue.

This included his good friend Michael Gove. Then, there was the Boris bombshell, with the mayor of London placing himself on the other side of the fence to the PM.

‎And then to compound it all, the past 10 days have been dominated by the fallout from the Budget, leading to the resignation of Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith – a big blow.

The quiet man’s written reasoning stuck a sharp object in a place which clearly hurt the PM.

Within his resignation, the former Tory leader claimed the further reductions to disability benefit put forward by Dave and his chum Boy George were putting better-off pensioners before those of working age.

For a Prime Minister who claims to have turned the Conservatives into the party of compassion, of opportunity and of employment, it was clearly a barb that hit home and remains embedded as he tries to pick up the pieces.

But what of Labour?

Under Jeremy Corbyn the party of opposition seems to have become more focused on opposing each other rather than the Government.

Trident, Syria and the economy are issues of great divide within the party.

And with a leader that seems hell bent on opening up these schisms yet further as he returns Labour to the left, no amount of Polyfilla will plug these gaps.

The emergence of a list, which puts almost every member of the parliamentary Labour party into five categories from core to hostile, has not helped.

Corbyn may have distanced himself from the whole thing. But when your chief whip, the person responsible for party discipline, is listed as hostile by a chief aide, what hope do you have?

Labour MP John Woodcock summed up the mood, even if his message on Twitter was supposed to have aired privately.

He said: “Worse [sic] week for Cameron since he came in and that stupid list makes us into a laughing stock‎.”

The comments were later deleted. But on the record a few hours later he admitted that it was yet another distraction from the Labour party opposing the Government. So both leaders are up against it So where do we go now?

Well, who it will get better for in the more immediate future is difficult to predict.

The general consensus is that all the while Europe remains on the agenda, the teflon PM will have to crank the charm offensive up to 11 in order to deflect the inevitable Brexit bombs being thrown his way.

But once June’s referendum has come and gone, you get the feeling that Dave will do a Tony and ensure that he can end his Premiership on his terms and when he is ready.

As for Jeremy, his job is a lot harder.

I’d go as far as to say that the long-time vegetarian has a better chance of banning kebabs than of bringing his own MPs round to his way of thinking.

So while you’re sitting back and enjoying what’s left of your Easter weekend with your friends and family, think yourself lucky that you’re not a part of the Westminster circus.

If you think your own relatives and colleagues are a pain, you’ve got nothing compared to Cameron and Corbyn.

What with all the chocolate eggs and Easter bunnies, it’s sometimes hard to remember that Easter is a religious festival.

So what better time of year is there to reflect on the great work being done to restore Brighton's cathedral, St Peter’s.

The church in the heart of Grand Parade has a flourishing congregation and thanks to some amazing fundraising work, more than £1 million is being spent on refurbishing the outside.

While we may not all agree with what it stands for, you don’t need to be a disciple to appreciate how much impact this selfless work has had on the wider community.