If you are running a city you must focus on day-to-day problems.

I never came into life with any favours or privileges.

Press TV is one of the few TV channels anywhere in the West that fairly presents the Palestinian case.

I grew up in a house with very few books.

Politics is not a healthy lifestyle.

I do the gardening.

My political beliefs are my moral, quasi-religious framework.

I swim three times a week.

Everyone changes all the time.

Working with the Jewish community is essential to me and what I stand for.

I could not cherish London and not value Jewish London. The contribution of Jews to London is immense - politically, economically, culturally, intellectually, philanthropically, artistically.

Jewish voters are not one homogenous block.

I am not against Israel, I am against Zionists.

My only regret is the media's obsession with the past.

I'm never going to take the view that I should say whatever I need to say in order to achieve something. Because that implies a level of dishonesty.

The press keep asking me, 'What was your biggest mistake?' But if I had made a big mistake, they'd all be writing about it, wouldn't they?

Most kids don't get to go their parents' wedding.

I actually think the civil service, who are the malignancy at the heart of public life, have consciously prevented, talked ministers out of, made it difficult regulatory-wise, to allow more pressure on alternative energy sources to grow.

When I'm sifting the compost seed or pruning, I argue over issues in my head; I talk to myself.

This life is messy.

Most people are not shocked that I am occasionally rude to journalists. They are probably amazed I don't punch one in the face.

The truth is, no one pays more tax than they have to.

I can't understand why anyone would want to live the life of a politician if you can't say pretty much what you think. You are not in it for the money: there's unremitting pressure on your life, you give up so much of your privacy. It can only be because of the things you want to do and the things you want to say.

Most politicians aren't allowed to express themselves any more.