Andrew Lansley

“It is in my heart that I believe most strongly that our future is within a reformed E.U. - not least because we now live in a global marketplace.”

“I was shadow health secretary for six years, and the beauty of being in opposition - if there is any beauty - is that you tend to get a pretty unvarnished view because no one bothers to paint the coal white before you turn up.”

“We must aim for a zero-tolerance approach to hospital-acquired infections; we have to be clear about who's in charge at ward level, so there's proper accountability, and we need to reduce the reliance on agency nursing staff.”

“Underperforming hospitals or units should accept that they have to improve the service they offer or that patients, quite properly, will go elsewhere.”

“If I'm serious about patients and their GPs being able to have more control of their health care, I can't have a top-down system that imposes restrictions on the services they need.”

“Especially some of the poorest in our society need to have the greatest support because health inequalities are too wide.”

“We should not make the mistake of equating the E.U. with Europe. Outside the E.U., we wouldn't cease to be Europeans. But, an exit would definitely risk losing those opportunities for our children while growing no similar opportunities elsewhere.”

“We will empower patients as well as health professionals. We will disempower the hierarchy and bureaucracy.”

“I have spent too long with too many people who have lost loved ones to healthcare-associated infections not to be determined to act on this. There is no tolerable level of preventable infections. The only acceptable strategy is a zero-tolerance strategy.”

“Go to any hospital, you'll find wards that are run by senior nurses with matrons. The point is do they have the power, do they have the responsibility inside the hospital?”

“The NHS should be proactively using substantial resources across government to intervene and try to deliver positive improvements in people's standards of living.”

“The vast majority of people who speak to me say they have had brilliant care. When they are critical, their concern tends not to be directed at the medical side but the ancillary things that surround it, such as helping patients to eat meals, cleanliness, and making sure that when patients have a problem, they are listened to.”

“I didn't go into politics because I wanted to win a popularity contest.”

“We have had significant success in the reduction of salt in food, but it has to be understood that this can only be achieved working with the industry on a voluntary basis... and it can only be done on an incremental basis.”

“We must not constantly talk about tackling obesity and warning people about the negative consequences of obesity. Instead we must be positive - positive about the fun and benefits to be had from healthy living, trying to get rid of people's excuses for being obese by tackling the issue in a positive way.”

“We know, in Wales or in England - you simply can't trust Labour on the NHS. In England, we are delivering for patients while Labour just use the NHS as a political football. We won't let them; we'll always fight for the NHS.”

“As part of the E.U., my children can have the freedom and the opportunity to work and live across Europe; to be ambitious in the world's largest market; and to access so much of the history, the culture and the opportunity which is our common European heritage.”

“We have to treat smoking as a major public health issue. We have to reduce the extent to which young people start smoking, and one of the issues is the extent to which display of cigarettes and brands does draw young people into smoking in the first place.”

“I want to make it clear that the lobbying sector does an important job. It is very useful to the government to hear the views of a broad range of groups to make sure we get the best.”

“You can't simply slash the sugar in food; otherwise, people simply won't accept it.”