I didn't come from a traditional Tory background; it was urban and metropolitan.
Believe me, I understand that most higher rate taxpayers are not the super-rich.
I want Britain to be a global financial centre but I want it to be properly regulated.
I am actually quite encouraged and I think, actually, the UK is coping with globalisation a lot better than most other European countries. And that is reflected in the fact that (whilst of course there are people who are still unemployed) our unemployment rate is low and (whilst of course we need to export more) we are attracting a huge amount of inward investment into Britain.
I believe that I'm entitled to regard my pre-political life as off-limits in terms of what can be looked at and judged.
I believe in public services.
Every day as Chancellor I see alerts telling me of risks around the world.
I'm not saying "job done" but I am actually pretty confident that Britain can be one of the biggest winners from these big global changes that are taking place and indeed become the richest of the major economies in the world in this coming generation.
If you want to change the way your banking system is regulated, if you want to learn the mistakes of what's gone wrong, then you have to change your government.
I get a lot of letters from people.
I have done everything I can to move Britain out of the financial danger zone.
I think essentially if you look at British public debate around the issues of our interconnectedness with the global economy you do not find a ready audience, of any large scale, for pulling up the shutters.
I reject absolutely the idea that people should know their place, and know their class.
I think you can look at the British economy with confidence.
It is not fair that people who are born in the UK to parents who are domiciled here, can later in life claim to be non-doms and live here, it is not fair that non-doms with residential property here in the UK can put it in an offshore company and avoid inheritance tax.
Just as it wouldn't be right to only to have an economic dialogue with China, equally you shouldn't restrict your dialogue solely to issues around, say, human rights. You can raise all those issues, and that is what reflects a mature discussion. So I don't think essentially we have to choose between being partners in China's economic development and being proud defenders of British values.
We need to think deeply about whether we can sustain banks that are not only too big to fail, but potentially too big to bail.
The foundations of a strong economy don't rest alone on the decisions of Chancellors or the spending programmes of government.
The rise in world oil prices has been larger than anyone forecast.
Britain is not part of the single currency. That is a decision we have taken, a voluntary decision of this country, but as a result are part of a European Union 19 of whose members are rapidly integrating, creating political, fiscal, monetary, economic union to make their currency work. And that is increasingly rubbing up against the operation.
Of all the public services, education is the one I'm most interested in. You get a more dynamic economy, you deal with most social problems, and it's morally right.
No other chancellor in the long history of the office has felt the need to pass a law in order to convince people he has the political will to implement his own Budget.
Britain wants the single currency to be a success. It is massively in our interests that we have a stable financial system on our doorstep.
Establishing proper economic governance that allows the Eurozone to undertake the integration it needs whilst protecting the interests of the single market for all 28, the rights of member states who are not in the Euro - including of course the UK - is really important for the future of the European Union.
We should be looking at putting a limit on the interest that can be charged on things like store cards.You don't want to end up with totally draconian credit controls but you want some common sense. We want cooling-off periods for store cards so people can't take them out and go straight to the counter and buy things.
