In the periods of my life when I've had least contact with the Church, I've always assumed a belief in God is a solid thing, but clearly it's a relationship; it has good days and bad days.

I like to think of myself as versatile, and I certainly have the most varied career, so I'm very, very lucky in that.

For me, faith is more about aspiration than complacency - the smug satisfaction that other people find distasteful.

I prefer to be flippant about acting, just in case I'm rubbish.

I'm unhappy as Dylan Thomas was, because I'm not, but I've had my brushes with sadness.

Anybody who was a politician at one stage - when they were at the "I'd like to be a train driver" stage of their lives - must also have thought: "I'd like to make the world a better place if possible." So, I think that's why most politicians go into it. They don't want to take over the world and most go into it for good reasons and then, presumably, are beset by endless things stopping them from following their natural inclination to do the right thing.

When we get christened or married or die, we drift naturally in the direction of the church. And in moments of crisis, when our spiritual Tom-Tom is no longer telling us what to do, we find ourselves scrabbling at the vicarage door.