After the Berlin Wall came down I visited that city and I will never forget it. The abandoned checkpoints. The sense of excitement about the future. The knowledge that a great continent was coming together. Healing those wounds of our history is the central story of the European Union.

We have the character of an island nation: independent, forthright, passionate in defence of our sovereignty. We can no more change this British sensibility than we can drain the English Channel. And because of this sensibility, we come to the European Union with a frame of mind that is more practical than emotional.

I want to be the voice of change and hope. I want to confront the big challenges this country faces.

We need to have a bigger and more significant role for national parliaments. There is not, in my view, a single European demos.

Today the main, over-riding purpose of the European Union is different: not to win peace, but to secure prosperity.

Press freedom does not mean that the press should be above the law. While it's vital that a free press can tell truth to power, it is equally important that those in power can tell truth to the press.

Just as I believe that Britain should want to remain in the EU so the EU should want us to stay.