Christopher Luxon has clarified his religious views saying they have been “misrepresented”.

On the Mike Hosking Leaders Breakfast, the National Party leader spent two hours this morning answering questions in a wide-ranging interview.

Labour Party leader Chris Hipkins is due to be interviewed for the series next week with some of the minor parties’ leaders also scheduled to appear.

When Luxon took over as leader of National, he faced speculation as to the nature of his faith and how that might impact party policy, particularly as it related to abortion.

In February 2021, he told the Herald his faith was personal to him.

"People seem to think, 'You're a Christian, so you must be a fundamentalist, raving Christian.'

"My Christianity is pretty simple. It's just, 'Love God, love people.' It's that simple."

Luxon has also pledged to resign if, under his premiership, access to abortion became more restricted.  It was an issue which briefly flared up last year after the United States’ Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.

Luxon has previously been compared to former Australian prime minister Scott Morrison, a Pentecostal Christian attending Horizon Church.

Speaking to Mike Hosking this morning, Luxon reiterated that his faith was personal.

“It’s kind of frustrating because it’s been misrepresented, frankly. People have wanted to label it that it is about this and it’s about that.”

“It’s just basically about a set of values about how you treat people and how you help people.”

Luxon said he was raised in a family where his mother was a counsellor, and his younger brother was a social worker.

“We were taught to treat people well and help them.”

Asked whether that was faith or just being a decent person, Luxon said in his case that was what his faith “does for me”.

“It’s personal to me, but it’s how I treat people.”

Luxon became the National leader after what had been a disruptive period for the party, with leadership spills and internal fighting.

A year earlier, the party had experienced one of its worst election results.

Luxon admitted the party had been “pretty dysfunctional”.

“But actually, you’ve got to get that team together and say that’s the team we’ve got . . . let’s get the right people on the right assignments.”

Luxon said they had rebuilt the party, which was “critical”.

“If I couldn’t do that, if you can’t lead yourself and you can’t lead the party, why the hell would people trust you to lead the country.”

“It’s that simple.”

In 2018, then-Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern set up a Business Advisory Council to advise what was then a coalition government. Luxon, then chief executive of Air New Zealand, was the inaugural chair.

Luxon said he did it because he believed that if any prime minister asked you to do something, “you should step up to the plate and do it.”

“I assembled 13 outstanding CEOs in that group . . . we genuinely went into that with a good mindset.”

On current polling, Luxon is likely to become prime minister after the election in less than two weeks. What is unclear, however, is whether he will need the support of NZ First to prop up a National, Act government.