Exclusive will not be published in book format.

The worst moment of any campaign is waiting for the sun to rise on the morning of the battle

The discipline required for athletics carried through to writing. You call it obsession. I call it discipline. By the way, I see nothing wrong with that.

I'm not taking any interest in politics. I'm not involved in politics in any way. My life is in writing now.

If you make a deal with a fool, don't be surprised when they act foolishly.

I'm vulgar, I'm a populist. But isn't that what the mayor should be?

When I was deputy chairman I could travel from Glasgow to Edinburgh without leaving Tory land. In a two-week period I covered every constituency in which we had an MP. There were 14. Now we have only one. We appear to have given up.