When I was leader of the GLC, by the time I had been in control for three years, the difference in pay between the cleaner and the director general was a four-to-one ratio. I find that attractive.

I fear that within 10 years gays, trade union activists and left wing politicians will be led off to the gas chambers.

I'm never going to take the view that I should say whatever I need to say in order to achieve something. Because that implies a level of dishonesty.

I'm more interested in politicians who deal with human rights in their own country rather than lecture the rest of the world.

Global warming could be solved by shifting three to four per cent of global GDP to pay for it.

I don't just denounce suicide bombers. I denounce those governments which use indiscriminate slaughter to advance their foreign policy.

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