Greg Dyke is on record as saying that once the BBC was attacked, it was their job to defend themselves. But that is not their job.

I hold no candle for George Osborne whatsoever. He has no strategic skills, is a hopeless chancellor, has no idea how most people have to live and his policies are failing and hurting millions.

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

The media are obsessed with spin doctors and with portraying them as a bad thing, yet seem addicted to our medicine.

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

All of this is happening because there has still been no reckoning post the financial crisis. So governments have fallen, one bloke has been to prison, the banks have gone pretty well back to status quo, the rich are getting richer, and the poor are getting poorer. And it's fuelling anger. And somehow [Donald] Trump, who represents the worst aspects of capitalism, has persuaded people he can deal with that.

I do think it's strange that I get associated with Iraq more than the people who were Foreign Secretary or Defence Secretary. It's because of my closeness to Tony [Blair], which I don't regret at all. I think that was a privilege.