ESTHER MCVEY

It makes my life easier that I don't have to take my daughter or son to school, that I've not got to look after them because they are ill. But then, I'm not nurtured and cherished, so I will seek external love from other close relationships.

This is how I am. I'm happy with my friends, my family, my job.

Labour's disastrous legacy and the Conservative success did not happen by accident: it was about the choices each party made, choices that impact on everyone.

It's important to know what you can do and what you can't.

Only three per cent of people are born with a disability; the rest acquire it through accident or illness, but people come out of it. Thanks to medical advances, bodies heal.

My dad started off in scrap metal, real men doing men's jobs.

You only have a true choice when you know what opportunities are out there and what qualifications you need.

Leaving the E.U. is an opportunity for our country.

One of my best friends was the first U.K. female fighter pilot.

When we cannot find enough extra money for policing, yet we are having huge sums to other countries in aid, it is time to start a serious conversation.

If people are coming into the country to add an extra dimension, to bring skills and expertise with them, we have always been open to that.

You can't underestimate how patriotic the people of this country are.

Universal Credit claimants who refuse to accept a zero hours contract job offer, without good reason, can be subject to a sanction.

When I speak to young people around the country, I'm impressed with the confidence and self-assuredness with which they look to the future and the range of options they consider beyond traditional routes.

Politics is all about trust. Trust is like the soul: once gone, it never returns.

Everyone deserves the chance to make their own choices. The first step on this pathway is experiencing the working world.

I guess, as a young girl growing up in Liverpool in the '80s, when unemployment was high, my ideal job would have been to have been Minister for Employment to see, can you solve these problems? Can you get people into work?

If that is your route, to go to university and get a job that way, that is fantastic.

Outside Westminster, political debate must seem like white noise that bears little relevance to people's everyday lives. But political choices made by the governments we elect have a real impact on how we live.

First and foremost, we have to ensure that we have to get our own kids ready for work so that employers want to take them on.

That is what we should be doing: liberating everyone's potential, whether it's a self-made individual, whether it's someone taking the university route, whether it's the apprenticeship route. They are all equal and good and worthwhile.

What does a teacher do in a school? A teacher would tell you off or give you lines or whatever it is, detentions, but at the same times, they are wanting your best interests at heart. They are teaching you, they are educating you, but at the same time, they will also have the ability to sanction you.

We all have dreams, whether it be about success in our careers, improving our relationship with family and friends, or sorting out our finances.

Top performers in their fields such as Debbie Moore, Jean-Christophe Novelli, Deborah Meaden and Jo Malone, did not go to university and are just a handful of the individuals who show that with drive and determination, you can succeed by treading your own path.

Life is not a theoretical problem to be solved in class.