Bribing regimes to comply with requirements which they should have acknowledged in the first place is not a process that appeals to me.

I shan't be pulling the levers there but I shall be a very good back-seat driver.

And what a prize we have to fight for: no less than the chance to banish from our land the dark divisive clouds of Marxist socialism.

Countries trade with each other - or to be more precise people buy and sell from each other across frontiers - because that is the way to advance their interests. We do not need to beg people to trade with us - as long as we have something that people want, of a quality they expect and at a price they are prepared to pay.

Whether at home or abroad, the task of statesman is to work with human nature warts and all, and to draw on instincts and even prejudices that can be turned to good purpose. It is never to try to recreate Mankind in a new image.

I'm not a good butcher but I've had to learn to carve the joint. People expect a new look.

There is a nonsense about intelligent women not being beautiful.