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?'

If I'm the British prime minister I won't be dictated to on the timetable or the manner of the negotiations.

I have a different starting premise from those 100 academics who are so heavily invested in the regime of low expectations and narrow horizons which they have created.

You know, you don't see hospital consultants going on strike, and I don't believe that teachers and headteachers should. It's within their rights, it's a civil right, but I think it is wrong in terms of the reputation of the profession.

The challenges facing Britain required not just a cool head, but a heart burning with the desire for change - not business as usual but a bold vision.

The reason I entered politics was a belief that the people of this country - having achieved so much that was good and noble in our past - had the potential to do amazing things in the future.

Whatever else I know, I know that if you invest love and care in any individual you can help them to make a difference, to write their own life story.