I think we've, again, got to be extremely careful; otherwise we'll misunderstand what's going on in Iraq and in Syria today. Of course, you can't say that those of us who removed Saddam in 2003 bear no responsibility for the situation in 2015.

Leaders lead but in the end it's the people who deliver.

One thing I'm not sure of - and it's a very open question - is whether the type of politics that I represent really has had its day or not. Now I obviously believe passionately it hasn't, that it's still the answer and not the problem, and, you know, the evidence points both ways.

I think conspiracy theories have gotten more and more close to the mainstream because what you've got is a fragmentation of the media, where the media becomes much more polarized today, left and right.

I'm afraid that's in the nature of modern politics - it's as much conducted by abuse as argument.

In government you carry each hope; each disillusion. And in politics it's always about the next challenge.

One of the things that I've been doing over the past few years is reevaluating my own powers of political analysis.