I inherited a sick economy and passed on a sound one. But one abiding regret for me is that, in between, I did not have the resources to put in place the educational and social changes about which I cared to much; I made only a beginning, and it was not enough.

You're lucky to head a coalition government. I am a coalition government on my own.

Certainly we've seen the enormous changes across the whole of the Middle East. The democratic genie is out of the bottle.

Some people eat eggs, I wear them.

I thought I could do something different from any Conservative prime minister before me. But I couldn't.

Recovery begins from the darkest moment.

Well what would happen is that if Greece defaulted and couldn't pay its debts, all the Greek bonds that are held in other banking systems across Western Europe would suddenly have no value. You could as a knock-on effect create a banking crisis in Western Europe.