TONY BLAIR is a deeply devout man and he has always been wary of discussing his religion with others—not just with the general public but even in private with political leaders who happen to share his Christian convictions. Contrary to what many people imagined, the former prime minister did not pray with George W. Bush before they made their plan to go to war with Saddam Hussein's Iraq. True, faith does seem to have been a bond between Mr Blair and José María Aznar, a former prime minister of Spain. And in February 2009, Mr Blair addressed a Washington, DC prayer breakfast at the behest of Barack Obama—but those occasions now have as much to do with civic religion as they do with personal devotion.
Much closer to home, there is one politician who claims to have had some prolonged and intense discussions with Mr Blair on the subject of religion. That is Ian Paisley (pictured above with Mr Blair in 2007), who may go down in history as the last public figure in western Europe to build a political career on Christian fundamentalism. A fire-and-brimstone preacher who for decades used maximalism and red-hot sectarian rhetoric to grab the limelight in Northern Ireland's Protestant community, he finally entered a power-sharing deal with his Irish-nationalist and Catholic opponents. That deal is still the basis of the province's fragile peace, though it disappointed many of his own supporters.
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