Britain is not part of the single currency. That is a decision we have taken, a voluntary decision of this country, but as a result are part of a European Union 19 of whose members are rapidly integrating, creating political, fiscal, monetary, economic union to make their currency work. And that is increasingly rubbing up against the operation.

I reject absolutely the idea that people should know their place, and know their class.

I understand the damage the expenses crisis has done to Parliament, and the paramount importance of restoring trust in our politics.

We need to think deeply about whether we can sustain banks that are not only too big to fail, but potentially too big to bail.

If you want to change the way your banking system is regulated, if you want to learn the mistakes of what's gone wrong, then you have to change your government.

What I'm interested in is Britain projecting itself abroad, and through that its values and the things it holds dear. And I don't think you do that by refusing to talk to the world's second-largest economy [China]. In fact, that is positively counter-productive in my view.

We support the auto-enrolment but we have our doubts about the way the National Pension Scheme is going to be structured.