Having served in eleven Parliaments, it would be difficult to describe this as a maiden speech. It would be like Elizabeth Taylor appearing at her next wedding in a white gown.

The Tory party is the enemy of democracy.

I am on the right wing of the middle of the road and with a strong radical bias.

If the Queen can reject the advice of a minister on a little thing like a postage stamp, what would happen if she rejected the advice of the Prime Minister on a major matter? If the Crown personally can reject advice, then, of course, the whole democratic facade turns out to be false

Well, it all began with Democracy. Before we had the vote all the power was in the hands of rich people. If you had money you could get health care, education, look after yourself when you were old, and what democracy did was to give the poor the vote and it moved power from the marketplace to the polling station, from the wallet...to the ballot.

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

When you get to No 10, you've climbed there on a little ladder called 'the status quo'. And when you are there, the status quo looks very good