My public caricature - that of a self-confident alpha male - is only partly accurate.

I have always been driven. I have always believed in what I believe very deeply.

By asking the question 'Am I happy?,' and via the answer setting out what I mean by happiness, there is a political route that can be taken, by asking another question - 'Can politics deliver happiness, and should it try?'

As Tony [Blair] said in his book, Gordon [Brown] was brilliant and impossible. If he'd just been one of those things, the options are obvious.

We should confine booing in sports arenas to sport. I love a good boo as much as the next football fan.

Failure, it is thought, is what sells, and what people want to hear and read about. I am not so sure.

In an ideal world, it would not take a film star to get the media focused on mental illness.