"Restoring religious faith to its rightful place as a guide to our world and its future is of the essence." Or this: "In surrendering to God we become instruments of his love". He told the story of his "first spiritual awakening" aged 10 when his teacher knelt and prayed with him when his father had a stroke. He warned the teacher that his father was a committed atheist who didn't believe in God, only to be told "God believes in him". And he's had fun at the expense of the civil servants and Alastair Campbell who told him "we don't do God" by finishing with the hope that in acting, politicians will "follow God's will - and by the way God bless you all".

No doubt Mr Blair's religious outpourings will generate a spot of reaction from those who might find it a bit rich to be lectured in religious and moral terms by the man who led us into Iraq and oversaw the culture of casual mendacity that marked New Labour. But for those of us who toil along the Burma Road, watching Mr Blair put on a trademark display of self-deprecation and lip-quivvering guffery was a moment for nostalgia. Say what you like, this guy is good.