Faith 'hugely important' for Blair

Mr Blair's former communications chief Alastair Campbell once famously told journalists "we don't do God" when asked about the ex-PM's beliefs.

But Mr Blair himself explains that his reluctance to discuss his faith in public while in office was driven by the fear that voters would see him as "a nutter".

And Mr Campbell says that Mr Blair "does do God in quite a big way", asking his aides to find a church he can attend every Sunday, wherever he is in the world.

Another close confidant, Peter Mandelson, said: "He's not an exhibitionist when it comes to religion but deep inside him it is very, very important. This is a man who takes a Bible with him wherever he goes and last thing at night he will read from the Bible."

In an interview for BBC1's The Blair Years, the former Prime Minister made clear how central his faith was to his work at 10 Downing Street.

"If I am honest about it, yes of course it was hugely important," said Mr Blair. "There is no point in me denying it, I happen to have religious conviction. I don't actually think there is anything wrong in having religious conviction - on the contrary, I think it is a strength for people."

He added: "To do this, the Prime Minister's job, properly you need to be able to separate yourself somewhat from the magnitude of the consequences of the decisions you are taking the whole time - which doesn't mean to say, and let me emphasise this, that you're insensitive to the magnitude of those consequences or that you don't feel them deeply.

"If you don't have that strength it's difficult to do the job, which is why the job is as much about character and temperament as it is about anything else. For me having faith was an important part of being able to do that."

Mr Campbell's refusal to discuss his faith while in office was not because he was opposed to his boss's religious beliefs, but because "you always get into trouble talking about it", said Mr Blair.