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

To me, marriage is partly a religious thing and I'm not religious.

The royal family's existence is a constant reminder of the hollowness of John Major's rhetoric, and idiotic statements by its leading members a constant boost to the republican cause. They're fine opening hospitals. It's when they open their mouths they get into trouble.

I used to be very routine-based and the new thing in my life is not having a clear, full-time existence.

The day of the daredevil reporter who refuses to see obstacles to getting the truth, and seeing it with his or her own eyes, seems to have died.

There are many reasons for the decline in royal esteem. One is that so many of the royals are thick.

Sometimes Jonathan [Powell] and myself would go to Tony [Blair] and ask him if he was absolutely sure about this or that. That was our job. But ultimately it was his decision.