I feel like everyone else in this country today. I am utterly devastated.

Human progress has never been shaped by commentators, complainers or cynics.

The thing always is to go to where people really are and what they're really feeling about life.

The first rule in politics is that there are no rules, at least not in the sense of inevitable defeats or inevitable victories. If you have the right policy and the right strategy, you always have a chance of winning. Without them, you can lose no matter how certain the victory seems.

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

I couldn't live with myself if I thought that these big strategic choices for my generation were there, and I wasn't even making them - or I was making them according to what was expedient rather than what I actually thought was right.

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.