I am genuinely not an over-the-top kind of person about politics or anything else.

I'm a fully paid-up member of the human race.

I believe that access to a university education should be based on the ability to learn, not what people can afford. I think there is no more nauseating a sight than politicians pulling up the ladder of opportunity behind them.

I think that former leaders are best seen occasionally and not too often heard - particularly on the subject of their successors!

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

I couldn't imagine a day without music. It relaxes and stimulates me in equal measure and I hate the sound of silence - the concept, I mean, not the track by Simon and Garfunkel.

There is no satisfaction to be derived from having had many of our arguments borne out by events.