Esther McVey

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

“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.”

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

“I've met people at the top of companies like Accenture who started off in McDonald's.”

“We never have been closed to immigration.”

“I was raised in inner-city Liverpool, the first in my family to go to university.”

“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.”

“To think that we are all the same and going to follow the same journey, that is wrong. We are going to support and liberate people, to give people as many opportunities to succeed as possible without being prescriptive.”

“I, for one, want to make sure we give every young person the chance to find the fuel for their confidence, something that will power their ambition.”

“What I like to see is people like Beyonce. Here is a woman who is bling-a-ding. Not only does she look like that and act like that - I've seen her perform, and I was blown away - but she is at the top of her profession.”

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

“There is a whole host of people that have got an accent like mine, whether they're from Merseyside or Wales or the North West.”

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

“For too long, people have had to neutralise or lose their accent out of fear of prejudicial treatment or to fit in. This has then led to a lack of regional accents, which has allowed this lazy stereotyping and prejudicial attitudes to prevail.”

“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.”

“Has my accent held me back? I don't believe it has at all. I think it can be a colourful accent.”

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

“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.”

“I've had other friends who had such a burning desire to have children: they have this biological ticking clock. I don't know what happened to mine. Nobody ever wound it up.”

“What you've seen from the 1980s, particularly in this country, is far fewer people doing Saturday jobs and doing jobs after school.”