JOHN BERCOW

I'm not psychic. I cannot know what is in the mind of particular public figures.

There's no point in worrying about things you can't influence.

I think the state opening of Parliament is an incredibly important occasion, and broadly speaking, the way in which it's done is an invaluable tradition.

Possibly the fact that I was physically quite feeble, a relatively short little fellow, attracted me to that idea of a very authoritative and aggressive version of Conservative politics.

When I first started out in politics I was, what you might describe as, a hard right Conservative.

Lying to a committee is a very grave abuse, and there ought to be a clear punishment.

If someone is being very cheeky, it can be quite fun to deal with that situation.

The Conservatives must realise that being sceptical is different from being phobic in what is an interdependent world.

I don't want to crawl over the entrails of past disputes.

It's a cowardly form of politics to use my spouse to beat me.

Sally is my wife, but not my chattel or my property.

One consistent thing in an otherwise inconsistent career is that I've always been passionate about parliament.

The prime minister's job is to captain his team, his party and his government.

A legislature cannot be effective while suffering from public scorn.

I don't think that people are disinterested or uninterested in politics. I think very often they are disengaged from the formal political process. To some extent they are suspicious or even despairing of formal politics as a means to give expression and effect to what they want.

I do strongly believe myself that members of the government who sit in the House of Lords should be accountable to the elected House because otherwise there is a democratic deficit, and that is wrong.

There is no denying or hiding the fact that over the years I moved from well on the right of the Conservative Party, much much more to its left, and therefore to the centre of the poltical spectrum.

I've never been much given to little social cliques.

There are people who are just very, very sniffy and snobby and have always sort of looked down their noses at me.

I pride myself on being courteous to people, and trying to fashion good relations.

Fairness is not about statistical equality.

For far too long the House of Commons has been run as little more than a private club by and for gentleman amateurs.

I think the record shows that as Speaker, I have taken the lead in cleaning up politics.

I'm not in the business of warning people.

I was proud to be a Tory Member of Parliament for twelve years, proud to represent Buckingham as a Tory, proud to have voted with my party 99% of the time as the record shows.