If we leave the European Union it's a risk to our economy - it's a risk to pensioners, it's a risk to homeowners, it's a risk to people in work.

I first started going to Chelsea games in the mid-Nineties when I lived off the North End Road, ten minutes' walk from Stamford Bridge.

I had the closest thing I have ever had to an out-of-body experience lying in bed one morning. I turned on the 'Today' programme and item four on the news was: 'The shadow chancellor has ruled himself out of the leadership.' I lay there thinking that's interesting, then I realised it was me.

The Conservative party, the modern Conservative party, is on the side of people who want to work hard and get on.

The foundations of a strong economy don't rest alone on the decisions of Chancellors or the spending programmes of government.

When I was born, the Internet was barely two years old. It was the preserve of academics, used to connect dozens rather than billions of users. There weren't many who predicted it would transform our world.

One thing I learned about Gordon Brown is you've got to have the strength to just get in there and take him on. When you first hear him spouting his statistics and boasting about his record, it can be quite intimidating. But over time, shadowing him, I just realised that a lot of it was rubbish; a lot of it was baloney.

You really have to try hard to create space and, at least for a time, stop the political world from rushing in. The important thing is to remain sane.

Our message to China is very clear: we want the U.K. to be China's best partner in the West.