"So I'm definitely in favour of stimulating the dynamic wealth creation sectors of the economy."

"There's an idea that London is a planet on its own: that it's starting to diverge from the rest of the solar system. We need to combat that."

"The euro has become a means by which superior German productivity is able to gain an absolutely unbeatable advantage over the whole eurozone territory."

"We are experiencing such large support for the Olympic relay that our advice is to stay in your neighbourhood, stay in your borough and wait for it to come near you."

"The job of mayor of London is unbelievably taxing, particularly in the run-up to the Olympics."

"I am hoping very much to get re-elected but it is going to be a tough fight."

"London is the most commercially important city in Europe, and it's the most populous city. It should be for the whole of the European continent what New York is to America. That's what it should be."

"I have as much chance of becoming Prime Minister as of being decapitated by a frisbee or of finding Elvis."

"I love tennis with a passion. I challenged Boris Becker to a match once and he said he was up for it but he never called back. I bet I could make him run around."

"I want to win and I want to be in office."

"I'd like thousands of schools as good as the one I went to, Eton."

"Some people play the piano, some do Sudoku, some watch television, some people go out to dinner parties. I write books."

"It just happens I write fast and always have done."

"I want London to be a competitive, dynamic place to come to work."

"But if people want to swim in the Thames, if they want to take their lives into their own hands, then they should be able to do so with all the freedom and exhilaration of our woad-painted ancestors."

"I love swimming in rivers, and well remember once jumping in at Chiswick."

"I have not been more robust towards female rather than male assembly members and I do not believe I have been remotely sexist."

"What I worry about is that people are losing confidence, losing energy, losing enthusiasm, and there's a real opportunity to get them into work."

"London is a fantastic creator of jobs - but many of these jobs are going to people who don't originate in this country."

"Times have been tough, the economy has been tough. But I want to bring forward a fantastic manifesto for taking the city forwards."

"I think the risks that people see of terrorism are incredibly important but we are very confident we have got the right people on it and the risks have been minimised."

"The beauty and riddle in studying the motives of any politician is in trying to decide what is idealism and what is self-interest, and often we are left to conclude that the answer is a mixture of the two."

"I've always sort of thought that politics was a high and noble calling and a good thing to do."

"I think people have a legitimate right to minimise their tax obligations if they can, but they should pay their fair whack. I do think it's important to be transparent."