As a child what did you want to be when you grew up?

At first I wanted to be an architect and then I decided that tree surgery was a better career option, perhaps mostly because I had a certain fondness for climbing trees!

How did you get involved in politics?

By the time I started studying politics for A-Level I was already pretty interested. I had been in the Question Time audience the year before and asked a very embarrassing question about school uniforms after my one about membership of the Euro was rejected.

Lots of talk about 'moral leadership' lately. What would that look like?

There has been quite a lot of talk, but then no-one really advocates immoral leadership! Leadership is about actions and not words. There can be the best of intents to exert leadership but actually doing it requires making decisions that may not be popular. I guess you only know what it looks like when you see it, otherwise it wouldn't be such a scarce commodity.

Which movie character do you most relate to?

Banana Man. A good role model. Ordinary boy who did extraordinary things.

Who has been the biggest influence in your work?

A few years ago I spent a year working for Alistair Burt MP and learnt a great deal from him. I learned how to be very reasonable and persuasive, but also retain a radical edge.

Is the gospel political then?

If the gospel is not political then it is not really a gospel at all. Like it or not politics affects all of our lives, and the good news that Christ brought is for all of our lives, not just a small compartment called religion.

What is your least and most green credential?

Well I'm about to spend a week driving around South-East Europe so that's not very green, but then I do cycle to work most of the time.

What living person do you most admire, and why?

I'm always reluctant to make heroes out of people, perhaps because on some level people will always fall short of our expectations. Partly because of that, the people I admire are those who spend their entire lives quietly working away in their communities, never boasting about what they have achieved but bringing transformation to many lives in little bits every day.

What is your most treasured possession?

My Moleskin notebook? I certainly found myself surprisingly distressed when I creased the cover recently!

What's your greatest fear and your greatest hope?

My greatest fear is that I do not know what may greatest hope is. Sometimes it seems like I'm scrambling around for some master plan.

Tell us one of your most hilarious faux pas.

Well, I'm not sure it's hilarious, but it certainly was dramatic - when I was eighteen I wrote-off four cars, including my mum's. The other three were all parked.

What Christian story or biblical text motivates you in your work?

The story of Jehoshaphat in 2 Chronicles 20. When faced with seemingly insurmountable obstacles our tendency is to strategise and come up with cunning plans. What if we spent more time worshipping God?

Martin Luther King Jr had a dream for society. What is yours?

For a world where we do not live in acknowledged indifference for the plight of so many in our world, those across oceans, those across borders and those across the street.

What is the main hindrance to living the dream?

Me.

If I would rule the world for a day I would...

...not know where to start! Perhaps hold a great banquet and instead of inviting all the world leaders open the doors to those that do not have a family or a home.

When are you the happiest?

When I'm outside, in a beautiful place and my mind is able to pluck fresh ideas out of the air and toy with them until they start to take some sort of form - although that form often only makes sense to me.

So how can politics increase wellbeing in society over the next 10 years?

By dealing with people and not abstract ideas. Concepts are thrown around and used to justify all sorts of things that can seem perfectly reasonable, yet when the human angle is considered we see a different picture. How about starting with how we can help an individual person? And then a family, and then a community, and then a town? And before long we might have an idea about how the whole country can be run to the benefit of all.

Tell us a joke

I don't do jokes.
Look, what happens when I try:

So this lorry full of tortoises collided with a van full of terrapins. It was a turtle disaster.