I Had A Happy Childhood.

For All That The Papers Would Say I Was A Liar, I Took The Words I Was Saying At Briefings As Seriously As Tony Blair Took What He Would Say At The Despatch Box. I Find It Very Difficult Not To Tell The Truth. I Felt I Was Accountable For What I Said.

So Here Is One Of My Theories On Happiness: We Cannot Know If We Have Lived A Truly Happy Life Until The Very End. This View Of Life And Death Was Reinforced By My Close Witnessing Of The Buildup To The Death Of Philip Gould. Philip Was Without Doubt My Closest Friend In Politics. When He Died, I Felt Like I Had Lost A Limb.

Tony's [blair] Convinced I'm Going To Find God. I Do Have Spiritual Moments, But I Don't Think It's God.

The Media Are Obsessed With Spin Doctors And With Portraying Them As A Bad Thing, Yet Seem Addicted To Our Medicine.

If You Look At The Other People Around At The Time - Charles Clarke, Alistair Darling, Jack Straw - They've All Gone. And They're Not Old. What's Happened Is That Someone Who Is Quite Old - Jeremy Corbyn - Is Now Leader. We Have To Take Some Responsibility For That.