Britain has always been at its most successful when it's a trading nation.

As Chief Secretary to the Treasury, I aim to be the disrupter in chief; I want to challenge those who aim to block change, stop development and restrict success. I want to challenge the caution that strangles risk-takers and go-getters.

It's almost 10 years since the 2008 crisis, but we all still remember the consequences of ignoring threats to the public finances.

What I saw when I went to France was that really good quality education and childcare is seen there as a completely normal part of everyday life.

Women need to be less squeamish about making money.

The British brand is so popular particularly in the US that they put the union jack flag on top of beer bottles because it sells.

We're trendsetters, first to welcome brilliant inventions into our lives, from the microwave meal to Instagram. Britain is a nation of Uber-riding, Deliveroo-eating, Airbnb-ing freedom fighters.

We want a fully comprehensive trade deal that reflects our deep, ongoing relationship, the friendship between our two countries, the fact that Australians want to come and live and work in Britain, and Brits want to come and live and work in Australia.

Parliament should start earlier in the day and finish earlier. Otherwise I love it.

What you notice in French nurseries is just how calm they are. All of their classes are structured and led by teachers. It's a requirement.

People won't want powers being handed back from bureaucrats in Brussels to be given to bureaucrats in Britain. Our aim should be to give the British people greater control of their lives in all regards.

Taking control of our laws border and money, run not by a bunch of overpaid bureaucrats in Brussels but by a bunch of overpaid bureaucrats in Britain. That ladies and gentlemen is a dream worth fighting for.

In London the average person is paying 50 per cent of their income on rent. Just think how much better off people would feel if that number was a lot lower.

I had never met anyone of my own age that was a Tory, so going to university and seeing people who were Tories and who believed in what I believed in was an eye-opener.

We've been prepared to make the arguments for lowering corporation tax, which is all about encouraging risk takers, encouraging entrepreneurs, and I observe that for the vast majority of the Labour government we had a top rate of 40 per cent income tax. It's now higher, and I think we should look to get to a simpler, lower tax system.

If we just had an election which is a kind of desiccated calculation, obviously I think the Conservatives have the best economic plans, but it is about more than that. It is about the overall person.

I am quite bolshy, sometimes. I like to get my own way, lets put it like that.

The free market is fundamentally humane and democratic, driven by ideas and millions of individual choices about what to do with our money which defy those who benefit from the status quo.

Labour want to control all parts of the economy and society so that they can pursue the politics of envy. It would leave us all paying higher taxes and the economy in tatters.

When I started my ministerial job I brought my daughters into the Department, due to last-minute childcare complications. We had meetings throughout the day and the girls had to play outside the office while mummy went to 'boring' meetings.

Every pound that comes into the Exchequer was earned by someone through hard work, and could have been used for a new car, a holiday or a treat for the children. It means I have a responsibility to make sure that all public spending is justified.

In order to retain our position as the dynamic duo of the world, it's vital that in the UK and US we keep opportunities open for new people and new ideas. And we can never allow our economies to get furred up.

We have lots of roadside stands in Norfolk where you can just pick up vegetables that people have grown in their garden and put the money in a pot.

When I left university I got a job with Shell on their graduate scheme. One of my roles was as a commercial manager for liquid natural gas shipping, project economics and contract negotiation.