I don't want to develop a reputation for being difficult about absolutely everything and everyone.

I want to build a reputation as the Treasury Select Committee chairman, as somebody who asks tough questions, listens and looks into what people want us to look into, and asks those questions without fear or favour.

I think sometimes people will look at the 'X Factor' winners or they will look at reality TV shows and they will think actually you can have instant success, fame, money overnight.

I don't want my son to grow up in a Britain that puts a limit on his ambition; I want him to be free to join thousands of British students, studying at colleges and universities in Germany, France and the rest of Europe.

For a young person who is perhaps thinking about coming out or is unsure of their sexuality - being called names is something that will mean that they won't want to go to school.

Those who think that Brexit offers an opportunity to move to some low tax, almost off-shore de-regulatory haven don't seem to care about the threat posed by Corbyn.

I firmly believe that my dual roles as secretary of state for education and minister for women and equalities are closely linked. Never is this more apparent than when tackling the gender pay gap.

I won't pretend that being booted out the cabinet wasn't painful.

I don't think many women would disagree that it's a good thing that under E.U. law a British woman who becomes pregnant while working in Europe can't be discriminated against.

One of the golden rules of politics is that if your opponent is attacking you personally then they are rattled.

Divides between north and south, towns and cities, between urban and rural areas, cause people to experience a gulf in quality of life and future prospects.

I would argue that in terms of our country's international profile, Brexit is just as significant a development as any military engagement.

It is well known that men will apply for a job they are half qualified for, but women do not apply unless they meet every requirement. We want to see girls have equal levels of confidence and take the necessary leaps and risks.

I've been very clear that childcare is a parents' issue. Men need to be confident that they can have a conversation with their bosses about the need to work flexibly, as I hope women are.

We need to encourage girls, while they are at school, to know that no career path is closed to them, and to take pride in having ambitions.

Whether it's in health and education, or the quality of local infrastructure, there's no doubt that a chasm exists between various parts of the U.K.

As chair of the Treasury Select Committee I hear time and time again just how important E.U. citizens are to the financial services sector. It is also apparent just how critical they are for our NHS too.

One of the things I have found is that everyone has a view on education.

Actions speak a whole lot louder than President Trump's words and tweets.

Often parents themselves will not have liked education and may not have done well in education. But actually we need to explain to them what education can do for children.

Sadly, Isis are extremely intolerant of homosexuality.

Conservative politics are about pragmatism, realism and stability.

We will expect every pupil by the age of 11 to know their times tables off by heart, to perform long division and complex multiplication and to be able to read a novel. They should be able to write a short story with accurate punctuation, spelling and grammar.

It would be wrong to say immigration holds results back or affects overall qualifications ultimately. But at the start of primary school, especially, it means that teachers have to tailor their lessons, to spend longer with pupils who have English as a second language.

The risk of reputational damage, causing good female talent to decline to work for a firm based on its disclosure, is the strongest reason for firms to address their gender pay gap.

With Brexit, and I think the extraordinary strain it's put on our constitution and our representative democracy, I do sometimes feel like I'm in the middle of the 17th Century, when you are standing up for the rights of Parliament.

As the world around us changes, our laws must change too.

I was a candidate in Loughborough in the 2005 election. I had a good result against the sitting Labour MP but not enough to unseat him.

We hear some people talk about the nanny state and, actually, we don't want to be telling people how to bring up their children, or how to be parents.

There's no doubt immigration can put pressure on public services, especially in places like Slough, but I'm not one of those people who think that immigration is always a bad thing.

All over the country, thousands of schools and teachers are working incredibly hard, day in day out, to eliminate homophobia, and we are committed to helping them.