The thought that my mother would suddenly be a foreigner would upset me very much.

I try to operate on two unconnected levels. One on the practical level of action in which I am extremely cautious and conservative. The second is the realm of ideas where I try to be very free

I do not share the general view that market forces are the basis of personal liberty.

I was radicalised by being a minister. That's when I saw how the system really worked. And that is not a very usual process, but it certainly happened to me: it gave me a lot more experience, it helped me to understand where power really lay, develop strategies for undermining or changing it, and so on. But that isn't the norm. Mr Gladstone moved to the left as he got older, and one or two other people have, but normally you swing the other way.

Britain today is suffering from galloping obsolescence.

The way a government treats refugees is very instructive.

The one thing that unites Sunni, Shiites and Kurds is they want the Americans out.