Whenever you analyse anyone who has had any success and they're in the headlines, you will find they are human and make mistakes. I'm certainly that and I've made a lot of mistakes.

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.

A strong man who has known power all his life may lose respect for that power. But a weak man knows the value of strength.

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 have discovered with advancing years that few things are entirely black or white, but more often different shades of grey.

I was allowed to ring the bell for five minutes until everyone was in assembly. It was the beginning of power.

Actually, Sydney is my second favourite city on earth, I love Sydney, but this is the greatest.