Yes, I do talk to my trees. I did say to one 'You'd better smarten yourself up or you'll be gone' and the next year, well, you've never seen such a mass of flowers.

The British public sees with blinding clarity.

I can foresee no circumstance in which I would allow my name to be put forward for the leadership of the Conservative Party.

There are those who never stretch out the hand for fear it will be bitten. But those who never stretch out the hand will never feel it clasped in friendship.

The market has no morality

It is the only time that I can ever remember the Prime Minister reading out the conclusions of a meeting that did not take place. They were already written before it started.

You can't wield a handbag from an empty chair.