Britain was set to repeat the boom-bust cycle that led to 15 per cent. interest rates for one whole year in the early 1990s.

Tony Blair is the best friend I've had in politics.

We had lost the art of communication - but not, alas, the gift of speech.

What is gained by debt relief and aid can be lost if we don't get a proper trade agreement in Hong Kong.

The vision of personalised public services - meeting the individual needs of all our citizens - requires continuing reform in the way services are delivered

I don't see politics as one or two people just making or delivering announcements - it's also about winning public support and the public enthusiasm. You've got to win public support.

I believe there is a moral sense and a global ethic that commands attention from people of every religion and every faith, and people of no faith. But I think what's new is that we now have the capacity to communicate instantaneously across frontiers right across the world.