Quotes

[2013; admitting that in 20 years of knowing Labour leader Ed Miliband he has never once been to the pub with him] I've known Ed 20 years and I can't think that I've ever been... Different people like different places, and I was last in the pub yesterday... I don't know if he likes the pub or not.

[on David Cameron branding him a "muttering idiot" in the Commons] To be fair to me, I have not been muttering for the last 18 months, I've been shouting from the rooftops the Cameron Osborne plan would fail. If I'm honest with you I was completely staggered. It was 12.27pm and suddenly he lashes out like that. I was completely taken aback. But, you know, the guy is obviously worried about the economy and worried about his reputation and doesn't know what to do and his instinct is to lash out. Actually, it would be better if he calmed down and thought to himself 'what did I get wrong, what can I do about it?'

It's quite deep now in Labour's DNA that it's about spending discipline, not about spending money.