I don't want a headline saying 'Kennedy suggests this or implies that.'

Politicians are good at saying how Government must do more, but we must also think carefully about where Government should do less.

I should do something about the cigarettes; I quite accept that it's bad for your health, but you know a moderate tipple is positively beneficial and, at certain times, absolutely essential.

The quicker we get rid of the lobby system the better for all of us. I don't think in this day and age it is tenable to have these nods and winks, and on-the-record and off-the-record briefings.

I can hardly think of an occasion when I've got into a stand-up fight with any political opponent. I've got my views, people know what they are, they can agree or they can choose to disagree. I'm not going to waste time just rubbishing everybody else.

There are hard choices to be made in balancing the country's security and an individual's liberties. But it is a choice that has to be faced.

I do think there is a great deal of caricature around the House of Commons. It is just that kind of place.