When Alan johnson was Labour Education Secretary and became embroiled in a battle over faith schools with the Catholic Church, there were some who thought him immune to understanding the importance of religious belief. But his recent autobiography, the much-praised This Boy which has just been released in paperback, gives an insight into a much more positive encounter with religion, and reveals how the tiniest gesture can have an impact on people. The entire story of Johnson’s childhood, blighted by poverty, an errant father and the early death of his mother, is deeply moving, not least the profound love of Johnson’s mother, Lily, and his sister, Linda, who raised him after their mother died of a heart condition when he was still a child. Although desperately poor, his mother