When I think of Cool Britannia I think of old people dying of hypothermia.

Cabinet members are soon overwhelmed by the insistent demands of running their departments. On the whole, a period in high office consumers intellectual capital; it does not create it....The less ministers know at the outset, the more dependent they are on the only sources of available knowledge; the permanent officials.

I don't want to commit myself in advocating a definite republican constitution which will get bogged down with the question of who would elect the President and when.

The one thing that is absolutely essential is that there shouldn't be any governmental control [of the media] directly or indirectly.

It is tempting to deny, but if you deny you confirm what you won't deny.

People in debt become hopeless and hopeless people don't vote. They always say that that everyone should vote but I think that if the poor in Britain or the United States turned out and voted for people that represented their interests there would be a real democratic revolution.

Making mistakes is how you learn.