But what has changed since then? The fact that at February’s General Synod it emerged that since January the Bishops are requiring all ordination candidates to sign their internally contradictory five guiding principles on women in the episcopate. The principles are to be ‘held in tension’ and are designed to ‘create space’, conservative evangelicals are being told.

Bishop of Truro Timothy Thornton said the new baptism texts were being drafted because of concerns that the present services were too "complex and inaccessible" to non-churchgoers.

"Those who work with young people give consistent advice that references to the devil are likely to be misunderstood in today's culture." He said a clear majority of the committee working on the texts had agree it was "unhelpful to refer to a personification of evil in the form of the devil."

"That last paragraph is, of course, complete rubbish. To be honest, I just put it in in order to reassure you, as it is well known that I am in fact a businessman who put on the wrong clothes this morning."

In his first presidential address to the synod last July, Welby labelled evangelism as one of his three main priorities in ministry. "We need new imagination in evangelism through prayer, and a fierce determination not to let evangelism be squeezed off our agendas," he said.

"Business is important, we need to affirm the significance of those who generate and create wealth," he said.

The Archbishop kept his strongest comments for the role taxes play in ensuring that companies contribute to the societies in which they operate.

"There has always been the principle that you pay the tax where you earn the money," he told me.