That is what capitalism is: a system that brings wealth to the many, not just the few.

There are significant differences between the American and European version of capitalism. The American traditiionally emphasizes the need for limited government, light regulations, low taxes and maximum labour-market flexibility. Its success has been shown above all in the ability to create new jobs, in which it is consistently more successful than Europe.

I was asked whether I was trying to restore Victorian values. I said straight out I was. And I am.

The larger the slice taken by government, the smaller the cake available for everyone.

It will be years - not in my time - before a woman will become Prime Minister

There are no personal sympathies in politics.

I am not one who, to quote an American author, believes that democracy and enterprise have finally won the battle of ideas - that we have therefore arrived at the end of history, and there is nothing left to fight for. That would be unutterably complacent, indeed foolish. There will always be threats to freedom, not only from frontal assaults, but more insidiously by erosion from within.