For me what we need is a great deal of fiscal stimulus to show the UK is open for business. We need to upskill our workforce. I'm very much in tune with the work our chancellor is doing.

I think it is very difficult for somebody who campaigned to stay in, who thinks there will be disaster if we leave and so on to suddenly turn it around and start believing that we can make a go of it.

Prosperity should be our goal, not austerity.

I think it's incredibly basic: we have to now deliver all of the huge advantages of trading with the 92 per cent of people in the world who aren't in the EU, so for me that was the final deciding factor.

I do want to be very clear: I see our nuclear deterrent as absolutely core insurance for our national security.

I can't possibly put myself in his [Tony Blair's] shoes and be inside his head but what I can say is that the security of the nation is the first duty of any government but at the same time for me going to war would always be the last resort. I would exhaust all other opportunities first.

Specific policy decisions would be absolutely necessary to promote the UK. It's not necessarily borrowing more or changing our current account status.