Relations with the Church strained over archbishops' attacks on poverty

David Cameron often speaks about why his faith is important to him

Church of England has long been described as the 'Tory party at prayer'

To laughter, he tells MPs: 'For the avoidance of doubt I am not gay either'

to the pressure to pretend not to be gay

in God because he is standing down

an only now admit to not

Conservative MPs are under pressure to pretend to believe in God, a former minister claimed today.

James Arbuthnot said he could only now confess to being an atheist because he was standing down at the election and likened to need to be religious to the pressure to 'keep quiet about being gay'.

David Cameron has previously said he is 'evangelical' about his faith and said Britain should be more confident about its status as a Christian country.

Speaking in the Commons, James Arbuthnot said he could only now confess to being an atheist because he was standing down at the election

The Church of England has long been viewed as the 'Tory party at prayer', and polls suggest Anglicans are still more like to vote Tory.

Mr Arbuthnot, who served as a minister in John Major's government, suggested this long-held assumption meant non-believers had to keep a low profile.

The MP for North East Hampshire revealed his atheism for the first time in 28 years in the House of Commons.

He was christened and confirmed as a child, but has since 'lost those beliefs'.

The former chairman of the defence select committee claimed the fact he is standing down at the general election made it easier to admit his view.

He was speaking in a debate about whether prayers should be read at the start of council meetings.

Mr Arbuthnot told MPs: 'First I shall disappoint people by saying I am not in the least religious.

David Cameron has regularly spoken about his faith and why the Church 'really matters' to him.

'My father was once the second Church Estates Commissioner, I was christened and I was confirmed.

'But since then I have lost those beliefs and faith that I once had and I am perfectly comfortable with that.

'But this is the first time I have ever actually acknowledged that in public.'

Elected as MP for Wanstead & Woodford in 1987, he has been MP for North East Hampshire since 1997.

He was a junior minister in the social security and defence ministries in the last Tory government.

After the 1997 general election Mr Arbuthnot became the Tory Chief Whip under William Hague and was on the frontbench of both Iain Duncan Smith and Michael Howard.

In 2011 he announced he would stand down at the election, but has only admitted to being an atheist with four months left until he leaves the Commons.

'It may be true that the pressure on a Conservative politician particularly of keeping quiet about not being religious is very similar to the pressure that there has been about keeping quiet about being gay.

'For the avoidance of doubt I am not gay either but I just wanted to say that it is telling that it has taken me 28 years in this House, and frankly in the knowledge that I won't be standing in the next election, to make this point.'

Unlike the United States, politician in Britain are often reluctant to discuss their faith.

Tony Blair's spin doctor Alastair Campbell famously said the New Labour government did not 'do God'.

But Mr Cameron has regularly spoken about his faith and why the Church 'really matters' to him.

In an interview last year, the Prime Minister said: 'People who advocate some sort of secular neutrality fail to grasp the consequences of that neutrality, or the role that faith can play in helping people to have a moral code.

'I believe we should be more confident about our status as a Christian country, more ambitious about expanding the role of faith-based organisations, and, frankly, more evangelical about a faith that compels us to get out there and make a difference to people's lives.'

However, relations between the Church and the Conservatives have been strained in recent years after criticism of the impact of government policy on the poor.

Intervention: The Archbishops of Canterbury (left) and York (right) said Britain is caught in a 'cycle of decline'

The Church's two most senior figures came under fire yesterday after claiming the poor are being left behind and whole cities swallowed up in a 'cycle of decline'.

In a highly political intervention – coinciding with the start of the General Election campaign – the Archbishops of Canterbury and York insisted that the Coalition was 'casting aside' the poor while chasing votes in Middle England.

As a result, they said, Britain had become dominated by 'rampant' individualism, is 'ill at ease with itself' and was in many places 'trapped in apparently inevitable decline'.