The 21st century will not be about the battle between capitalism and socialism but between the forces of progress and the forces of conservatism.

I have never pretended to be a great House of Commons man, but I pay the House the greatest compliment I can by saying that, from first to last, I never stopped fearing it.

Lord Cranborne told the leader of the opposition to 'back me or sack me' - he succeeded in doing both.

The blunt truth about the politics of climate change is that no country will want to sacrifice its economy in order to meet this challenge.

I still think the world is better off and safer without Saddam Hussein.

Can we be sure that terrorism and WMD will join together? If we are wrong, we will have destroyed a threat that, at its least is responsible for inhuman carnage and suffering. That is something I am confident history will forgive. But if our critics are wrong and we do not act, then we will have hesitated in face of this menace, when we should have given leadership. That is something history will not forgive.

In retrospect, the Millennium marked only a moment in time. It was the events of September 11 that marked a turning point in history, where we confront the dangers of the future and assess the choices facing humankind.