It is not surprising that more and more people are coming to the conclusion that the ballot box is no longer an instrument that will secure political solutions... They can see that the parliamentary democracy we boast of is becoming a sham.

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.

When Blair was elected leader of the Labour Party, he said, "New Labour is a new political party" - that was the phrase he used, and I'm so glad he said it because he set up his own party and I'm not a member of it.

Encouragement is the most important thing in the world for young people, rather than league tables, which demoralise everyone.

The Labour party has never been a socialist party, although there have always been socialists in it - a bit like Christians in the Church of England.

America is now the dominant force and the only countervailing force is Europe.