Who would guess that a prime minister reputedly obsessed with spin would choose as his favourite biblical passage an extract from the Gospel of St Mark, chapter four?
And lo, it is the parable of the sower: "How then will ye know all parables? The sower soweth the word. And these are they by the wayside, where the word is sown; but when they have heard, satan cometh immediately and taketh away the word that was sown in their hearts.
"... And he said unto them, Is a candle brought to be put under a bushel, or under a bed? And not to be set on a candlestick? For there is nothing hid which shall not be manifested; neither was any thing kept secret, but that it should come abroad."
Well, by their fruits shall ye know them. Tony Blair, his office says, draws consolation from the parable. In fact, he enjoys the verses, Downing Street told the compilers of My Word, a book in which more than 200 celebrities have selected their favourite biblical passages.
They turn out to be remarkably revealing, not to say solipsistic. Lord Archer, for instance, has selected Exodus 20 - along with Jean Alexander, Coronation Street's Hilda Ogden - which talks of a jealous God visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the fourth generation and includes the line: "Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour."
Jonathan Aitken's choice is Isaiah 43: "Do not be afraid for I have redeemed you ... Should you walk through fire, you will not be scorched."
Paddy Ashdown also chose a dose of Isaiah, chapter 24: "The earth mourns and withers ... the heavens languish together with the earth." Which is hardly a good liberal view.
What could have persuaded Lord Owen, former SDP leader and Balkans peace envoy, to select Ephesians six? The passage reads: "We wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities, against powers, against the rules of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places."
Surely not David Steel, with whom he fell out so spectacularly, and who himself chooses Matthew 25: "Then shall the King say unto them ... Come ye blessed of my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world" - perhaps, to coin a phrase, go back to your heaven and prepare for government.
And what pray, are we to make of Esther Rantzen, egotistical television performer, choosing as her favourite, verses from none other than the Book of Esther?
