My dad started off in scrap metal, real men doing men's jobs.

The people I believed in were people like William Lever, the great philanthropic industrialist - self-made men who realised anyone could achieve.

I ran my first campaign when I was 11. My slogan was 'Vote McVey, vote the right way.' I've never surpassed it!

Our young people are some of the best and most talented in the world - they are driven, entrepreneurial, and innovative - and with the help of people who have already made it in the world of work, they can go on to be the bosses and employers of the future.

People who have been successful in business have a huge amount to offer young people who are just starting out.

One of my best friends was the first U.K. female fighter pilot.

You wouldn't try and make a cake without a recipe book. Careers are just the same.

You only have a true choice when you know what opportunities are out there and what qualifications you need.

Sometimes, for girls, it's about building confidence and giving them a can-do attitude. It's seeing role models, people like yourselves, doing those jobs and achieving them, just to say, 'I can do that.'

Politics has to be a place where women want to go.

The behaviour of several male politicians against me has never been condemned by Ed Miliband, or the Labour Party, and it needs to be because in the end, it will have a long-term corrosive effect for politics full stop and for young girls who want to go into politics.

Politicians themselves, every one of us, has a responsibility to make sure that we send out a message that it is a good place to work, that it is positive, that you are transforming people's lives.

I have had long relationships but have never married.

My friends have always known there was this more serious side to me, and all my life, I've had Conservative values.

To think that we are all the same and going to follow the same journey, that is wrong. We are going to support and liberate people, to give people as many opportunities to succeed as possible without being prescriptive.

That is what we should be doing: liberating everyone's potential, whether it's a self-made individual, whether it's someone taking the university route, whether it's the apprenticeship route. They are all equal and good and worthwhile.

If your route is that you are practically minded, and that is what presses your button, and you do an apprenticeship and you get a job that way, that is fantastic.

If that is your route, to go to university and get a job that way, that is fantastic.

The government should only have one voice so the country knows what we stand for, so the world knows what we stand for.

We all have dreams, whether it be about success in our careers, improving our relationship with family and friends, or sorting out our finances.

Success isn't anything to do with being lucky. It's knowing what you want, taking the necessary action, and believing you can achieve anything you set your mind to.

Life teaches you it's not where you come from, it's where you get to, and work is exactly the same.

When I speak to young people around the country, I'm impressed with the confidence and self-assuredness with which they look to the future and the range of options they consider beyond traditional routes.

Top performers in their fields such as Debbie Moore, Jean-Christophe Novelli, Deborah Meaden and Jo Malone, did not go to university and are just a handful of the individuals who show that with drive and determination, you can succeed by treading your own path.