- guardian.co.uk, Friday September 22 2000 02.58 BST
The survey, carried out for the Church of England newspaper, found nearly one in five naming Tony Blair - closely followed by Mo Mowlam - as the best role model for British Christians on television today.
The bishops listed a host of other politicians, including Gordon Brown and Tony Benn - all of them Labour apart from Liberal Democrat Simon Hughes and Martin Bell, the independent MP for Tatton - together with other Christians such as the broadcasters Libby Purves and Simon Mayo, pop star Cliff Richard, and the England cricketer Mike Atherton.
But not a single one could think of a Tory to look up to. If it is any consolation to William Hague, who has been making efforts to woo evangelical Christians in recent months with his offers to turn over social services to religious charities, only 3% thought the Archbishop of Canterbury, George Carey, was much of a role model either.
Jonathan Wynne-Jones, production editor of the paper, said: "We were quite surprised that not a single bishop mentioned any Tories as role models, not even Ann Widdecombe."
More generally, the bishops' bench revealed their favourite television programme was Friends and nearly two-thirds had watched Big Brother - though not one mentioned the Vicar of Dibley.
