The member for Bermondsey

It was good to welcome Simon Hughes, MP, a regular attender at our Men's Breakfasts, as the speaker today on the subject, 'a Christian in the House.'

The men sat down to the usual Full English followed by an inspirational talk by Simon, and the chance to ask questions of our member of parliament.

Simon was hot foot from the Cathedral churchyard where he had spent the night sleeping rough in support of the Robes project for the homeless.

It was the end of an incredibly busy day that included participating in debates at the Commons, a constituents' surgery in St James Church and a dinner for Supreme Court judges from the UK and Italy which he was hosting at Lancaster House, close to Buckingham Palace.

On top of all that was a whole briefcase of papers he has to work through every day - the pile of files

Simon at the Men's brekkie

being constantly replenished by civil servants from the Ministry of Justice. And all this hard work is undergirded by a strong and living Christian faith.

How he fits it all in we shall never know but at a time when people can be a little cynical about politicians it is good to be reminded just how hard many of them work - and also to be reminded that it is a peculiar (and welcome) feature of our political system that every minister, from the prime minister down, is a constituency MP, answerable to the electorate, and only there in parliament by virtue of their votes.