Ken Clarke

“I don't think the Conservative Party could win an election in 1,000 years on this ultra right-wing programme.”

“We are all in agreement about the principles of the national health service ...it should be provided free at the point of treatment, according to clinical need and largely funded out of taxation.”

“The referendum is not binding.”

“All political careers are a rollercoaster.”

“When we negotiate trade agreements in the future, we will be pressing other countries to open up their public procurement processes to genuine, fair, international competition. It would be totally ridiculous to abandon that principle now to give into not only constituency pressures, which I understand, but otherwise nationalist nonsense that ought to be ignored.”

“If a Brexiteer majority still wishes to persist in leaving, once we have made some progress and it’s obvious we’re getting there, you can invoke Article 50 again and leave fairly rapidly. To me, that seems the only rational way in which we can precede. But common sense has gone out of the window.”

“I don’t want the new leader to make me parliamentary under-secretary for nuts and bolts.”

“At the moment I save the House of Commons from having Dennis Skinner as father of the house by 25 minutes”

“If the Conservative Party cannot think of anything else to do it has a leadership contest.”

“I wouldn't reject it if it was the only way forward.”