Actually, I don't ever think there will be a men-only team of leadership in the Labour party again. People would look at it and say, 'What? Are there no women in the party to be part of the leadership? Do men want to do it all themselves?' It just won't happen again.

I know we will look back on this and think how odd it was we were championing the rights of lone mothers to bring up their children on benefit.

I was aware that everybody said I was going to be a vast mega-flop, and that William Hague was just oh-so intelligent, and oh such a great parliamentarian, and therefore so different from me! So I thought, I must deprive them of the satisfaction of proving themselves right.

Is this the situation in the modern Conservative party? That women should be seen and not heard?

Our society, our culture - the greatness of America - goes hand-in-hand with energy, and our leaders need to wake up. We need energy, OK?

I think the Republicans are subverted by the fact that so many of their leaders send their kids to private schools, they don't really have the stomach for the fight.

Good leaders make people's strengths effective and their weaknesses irrelevant.

I could always score goals. I loved that feeling of having your team look to you, that feeling of leadership.