Teachers themselves know if there's a colleague who can't keep control or keep the interest of their class, it affects the whole school.

You come home to find your 17-year-old daughter engrossed in a book. Which would delight you more - if it were 'Twilight' or 'Middlemarch?'

The current leadership of the Labor party react to the idea that working-class students might study the subjects they studied with the same horror that the Earl of Grantham showed when a chauffeur wanted to marry his daughter.

I'm clear that we do need to improve what's happening in our schools.

There are huge challenges ahead for this country but also huge opportunities. We can make this country stronger and fairer.

I will put my heart and soul into making sure that the care your son or daughter or mum or dad receives is the same I would want for my own family.

I remember my mum explaining to me what adoption meant when I was still at primary school. 'Son,' she said to me, 'you didn't grow under my heart, you grew in it'.