Just because I am critical of the coalition doesn't mean I am anti-English. I am just anti-scumbags.

I've always told the truth. I've often been wrong - but I've never knowingly lied. Not in public life. Because I don't see the need to.

It would actually be quite nice if the American ambassador in Britain could pay the [congestion] charge that everybody else is paying and not actually try and skive out of it like some chiselling little crook.

I've always been a workaholic. I reckon, on average, I've had less than one day a year off in my working career.

I have only ever borrowed money for investment. I have been sound money all my life.

I spent the 1960s and 1970s seeking myself - the working-class tradition of self-education.

If I blew my nose the Daily Express and the Daily Mail would say that I am trying to spread germ warfare.