I think it's very, very hard not to go slightly crazy if you're in the top in politics, especially if you're there for a long time.

Politics is never a victory, it's just the remorseless grinding forward of events.

My literary career was a fluke. Utterly unexpected.

History is too important to be left to the historians.

People perish. Books are immortal.

Everyone thinks politics will just go on the way it is. I don't agree.

For me, as I suspect for most people, there comes a point where you have enough. If you've got £20 million, why keep going until you've got £100 million or £1,000 million? Does anyone need another vast yacht or private jet or a house full of gold?