Mum was born in 1938 in Guyana and came to Britain at the end of the 60s. She settled in Tottenham, north London, and worked for London Transport and then as a home help, a care assistant and finally a local authority officer. Bringing up five children singlehandedly with little money can't have been easy, but she did it with tremendous style.

Parents' evenings were a big event in our social calendar and school reports were taken very seriously; 'C' was not a grade my mother recognised. Her favourite shop was WH Smith, where every week there would be a new book or pen or calculator to buy. But most importantly, she was my best friend.

If we want to raise the aspirations of young men, we should be praising their achievements, not talking them down.

We have to challenge head-on the way the BNP takes legitimate concerns and manipulates them in the interests of its fascist agenda.

From protecting consumers to establishing common standards and promoting free trade, the E.U. plays a central role. And nation states alone cannot tackle common threats such as climate change without the co-ordination that the E.U. and other supranational institutions provide.

As a young man, I was angry about all things legal.

Being in opposition takes some getting used to. As a former minister, you don't just lose your job and the enormous resources of the civil service, you also have to watch programmes that you were involved in being gradually dismantled.

I remember singing as a chorister in Peterborough Cathedral, having won a music scholarship to go to school there, and realising for the first time in my life what true excellence was.

Universities are not like supermarkets: their job is to serve the country, not just the customers who happen to walk through their doors.

Fathers matter.

It is the responsibility of all of us to create a culture that encourages and enables fathers to spend more time with their families.

A workplace culture where fathers are encouraged to take paternity leave would result in stronger families, a more equal labour market and a better economy.

In Britain, we ought to be in a position where doctors and therapists are able to prescribe mindfulness, acupuncture, osteopathy de rigueur, and it not only be available in certain fantastic surgeries in London and Brighton.

I love to run outdoors, being outside, enjoying nature, looking up through the trees, being out among the elements... I don't think there's a better way to start the day.

The great thing about running is that so often you wake up and you think: 'I really don't feel like this.' And even when you're up and out, that first kilometre is tough. But then once you get to 3km and you're getting to the end of the run, it's really fantastic.

The pressures of being an MP mean free time is a very rare luxury.

I like the state of being self-aware, it's interesting when you start to look at your own habits.

At school, I was frequently subjected to racial abuse.

Family policy is not a zero-sum game: any gain for dads need not come at the expense of mums.

Dads are not a risk to be managed, but a resource to be used for the benefit of the whole family.

Active dads make a positive contribution: they are good for children and they are good for mothers.

Leadership is about tough choices.

I spend much of my time in a suit and tie with my top button done up and my sensible shoes neatly polished. When it comes to work, my appearance is about communicating professionalism and confidence.

I love the theatre and Miller is one of my all-time favourite playwrights. 'All My Sons' is a very socialist play, which exposes the lack of empathy that can accompany capitalism when it is left unchecked.

Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis' by JD Vance made me entirely rethink U.S. republicanism, Donald Trump and the American white working class.

Wildlife crime goes well beyond just a threat to endangered species but also has impacts on our society, economy and security. It undermines efforts to uphold the rule of law, acts as an agent for corruption, creates a barrier to development and fuels global instability.

Most of us have embraced digital technology, and depend on it more and more in our daily lives, both at home and at work.

The illegal wildlife trade has an unacceptable human cost for those who have lived for centuries in harmony with wildlife.

Like my constituents, I have had to immerse myself in the detail about HS2 precisely because of the massive and permanent impact it would have on the area I represent.

The Foreign Office works hard to remind people of local laws and customs as often they can be very different to British law.

While the circumstances of any one situation are unique, it is clear that many families could have been helped if they had found it easier to talk openly about mental health challenges in the home.

Although I wanted to Remain, I know the E.U. is not perfect. I have attended more than enough of its council meetings and read enough of its commission papers to understand its flaws.

No individual, no organization, no government is above the law.

We could choose to leave as a country split and an economy disjointed, struggling to make our way in a new world outside the E.U. Or we can come together as one United Kingdom, confidently seizing new global opportunities as we build a prosperous, secure nation fit for the future challenges we will face.

When Theresa May asked me to resolve policy disagreements between ministers, my power to do that depended on the fact that I was acting on her behalf with her delegated authority.

Conservatives believe in patriotism, but equally in community and the importance of local identity. We believe in devolution. We believe in localism. We believe that decisions should be taken locally wherever is practical; that communities matter.

We can restore E.U. growth through reducing regulation, strengthening governance, pushing ahead with free trade agreements and strengthening the single market.

I am the man who stands on the stage spinning plates on the top of poles. Every now and then the PM gives me another plate and I have to keep that going as well.

Government has learned a lot from the business world - and I hope that some companies will recognise they can learn from each other, too.

Moving to a new school, or up a year at an existing school - with new friends, teachers, subjects, rules and expectation - is a big deal for young people. All of us who are adults remember how daunting it was, but we sometimes take it for granted that children will be able to cope with the change.

A desire to see significant reform and change is perfectly compatible with our belief that membership of the E.U. is in our national interest.

As our digitally connected world continues to expand, the inherent vulnerabilities in the systems we rely on provide ever greater opportunities for those who want to exploit them.

The threat from cyber criminals and nation states continues to grow. So we need to forge closer partnerships with industry, academia and civil society, and develop the profession to create a more diverse workforce.

The public is interested in the service it receives, not the mechanism that delivers it.

In Africa, animals and the natural landscape allow local communities to support themselves, as there is a constant source of money from tourism.

The proudest citizen of Aberdeen, Plymouth, Coleraine or Wrexham can also take huge pride in being part of the United Kingdom.

The closer you get to Number 10 the more you see what a back-breaking job that is, the pressure is absolutely constant and the loss of privacy is almost complete so I don't have ambitions in that direction and there is no vacancy nor likely to be during my time in politics.

We must do better by offenders who are sent to prison to make them less likely to return.

The men and women who work in our prisons are the unsung heroes of the criminal justice system.

Time spent travelling was assumed to be unproductive and a monetary value attributed to the minutes that would be saved from a speedier journey that allowed people to get from one office to another more quickly. I've always thought that that case was weak.