I think part of the whole agenda of being open for business is about making sure that people can get here and also get there.

During my campaign, I had come across a small number of (mostly) young men, who had strongly racist views. They told me they would only vote for a party that was willing to get rid of black and coloured people from this country. What struck me as strange is that they weren't bothered about the thousands of white Europeans arriving from Central and Eastern Europe.

I live in a constituency that is quite rural, there are some very successful hunts there that are abiding by the law as it stands now but who are very often pointing out to me the consequences of the need to exterminate vermin, which foxes are, and the consequences of trying to shoot them and winging them and so on.

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.

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

Did we get anything like the sort of reform that would make the EU work better? No. Not even close. And worse, even with the certainty of a UK referendum following the negotiation, it is clear that there was no appetite amongst European leaders for anything more than a few minor concessions.

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.