What is even more worrying still is George Osborne's breathtakingly complacent response to today's figures. This is a Chancellor who is in total denial.

You could get a cheer by saying: 'Let's withdraw from Afghanistan', but I don't think that's where the public's at. It wouldn't be responsible.

I will ask every government department to draw up a plan for civil service relocation outside London. And a Labour Treasury will set an objective for savings over the course of the next decade.

My mobile phone battery runs out all the time because all the messages come straight to me.

The thing about politics is to plan 10 years ahead, and assume every year is your last.

I think three or four years ago, people would have said my biggest weakness was that sometimes I was awkward on television, with my stammer, but I think they'd say that much less now.

I don't think I've ever sent a text to Gordon Brown because I'm confident that he would absolutely have no idea how to receive it. He barely managed to master WordPerfect 4.1.