I do strongly believe myself that members of the government who sit in the House of Lords should be accountable to the elected House because otherwise there is a democratic deficit, and that is wrong.

I don't think that people are disinterested or uninterested in politics. I think very often they are disengaged from the formal political process. To some extent they are suspicious or even despairing of formal politics as a means to give expression and effect to what they want.

I said that if I hadn't been a politician, I'd have liked to be a barrister, or an academic. My beloved wife said: 'You'd be a very good barrister and a hopeless academic.' I said 'Why?' She said: 'Because you're not an original thinker.'

I think the state opening of Parliament is an incredibly important occasion, and broadly speaking, the way in which it's done is an invaluable tradition.

I was proud to be a Tory Member of Parliament for twelve years, proud to represent Buckingham as a Tory, proud to have voted with my party 99% of the time as the record shows.

Possibly the fact that I was physically quite feeble, a relatively short little fellow, attracted me to that idea of a very authoritative and aggressive version of Conservative politics.

There is no denying or hiding the fact that over the years I moved from well on the right of the Conservative Party, much much more to its left, and therefore to the centre of the poltical spectrum.

A legislature cannot be effective while suffering from public scorn.

Even youngish men can acquire wisdom as time goes by.

Fairness is not about statistical equality.

For far too long the House of Commons has been run as little more than a private club by and for gentleman amateurs.

I don't want to crawl over the entrails of past disputes.

I never aspired to be Speaker simply so I could say, 'I am the Speaker of the House of Commons,' and tell my children that.

I pride myself on being courteous to people, and trying to fashion good relations.

I think the record shows that as Speaker, I have taken the lead in cleaning up politics.

I'm not in the business of warning people.

I'm not psychic. I cannot know what is in the mind of particular public figures.

I'm supremely uninterested as to what is written in many of the newspapers.

I've never been much given to little social cliques.

If someone is being very cheeky, it can be quite fun to deal with that situation.