Jeremy Hunt

“I've been making the NHS's case that we need significant and sustainable funding increases to meet the demographic challenges we face, and the prime minister completely appreciates that.”

“I don't think the BBC supporting digital switchover is top slicing. Top slicing is putting the license fee up for grabs for other broadcasters to bid for.”

“Our commitment to Afghanistan is a long-term one. We put a huge amount of resources into trying to make sure there is peace in that country, a huge amount of development assistance, a huge amount of political support for the government.”

“It is still worth talking to Iran to see if there is a way through and to prevent the huge rivalry between Saudi and Iran turning into another version of the Iran-Iraq war. That is what all countries that have influence have to be thinking about.”

“We have to show the E.U. and show Ireland that our commitment to the Belfast Good Friday agreement is absolutely unconditional.”

“What I want is a strong NHS delivering the highest standards of care anywhere in the world, and that is true to the founding values of the NHS, and I hope that, looking back on my time as health secretary, people can see that, actually, the foundations for that change were laid in the period that I was health secretary.”

“People generally think of Conservatives as competent, and they need to see that competence in action in delivering the public services that matter to everyone.”

“If you look at the approach Theresa May has taken to Brexit so far, she has the instincts of a Brexiteer but the cautious pragmatism of a remainer, which is where I think the British people are. She brings incredible resilience, and we have to allow her to get on and negotiate this deal.”

“If you're going to be involved in Syria, then you need to make sure that there really is peace in Syria. And that means making sure that President Assad does not use chemical weapons on his own people.”

“In medicine, all over the world, there are always going to be mistakes made.”

“People have had certain assumptions in the past about Conservative governments, partly because of some of the things that happened in the 1980s, and partly because of the tone of some of the debate in the 1980s that appeared to say public spending on the arts was something you might want to progressively reduce.”

“I've noticed that a lot of people, subsequently, when they introduce me are very careful not to say the Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt. A lot more people are saying Jeremy Hunt, Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport.”

“I think saving the NHS is a lifetime's work.”

“Theresa May has made a decision that we want our economic future to remain close to Europe: it's the biggest single market in the world; it's right on our doorstep.”

“All I can do is advocate changes at the BBC while respecting editorial independence upon which the success of the BBC rests. I can't do anything that requires the BBC to pay certain people certain amounts.”

“France and Germany have to send a strong signal to the Commission that we need to negotiate a pragmatic and sensible outcome that protects jobs on both sides of the Channel because, for every job lost in the U.K., there will be jobs lost in Europe as well if Brexit goes wrong.”

“When there are things that don't go according to plan, London will cope.”

“If we are going to keep patients safe, then we have to make sure that doctors are able to learn from mistakes.”

“I've always been someone who believed that if we ended up with No Deal, we would find a way to thrive economically because we are Britain; we are that sort of country. We have solved these kinds of problems.”

“President Trump has a unique way of doing things different to his predecessors, but what I would say is that don't underestimate his ability to take very intractable situations and shake the deck of cards and try and find a solution.”