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

I will go out of this world feet first with my Lib Dem membership card in my pocket.

Yes, you need substance in politics - but I think your style also says something about how you arrive at some of your conclusions.

For any new leader of any party at any given time it takes time if you are not in government to establish yourself.

I'm a lifelong believer in trade unionism.

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

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.