 At the end of my trial, I was rather hoping the judge would send me to Australia for the rest of my life. |
| I was allowed to ring the bell for five minutes until everyone was in assembly. It was the beginning of power. |
| I spent my first three weeks there on a wing with 21 murderers. I met some very evil people there but also some men who'd had no upbringing, no chance in life. |
| I think when you've lost an election by 179, there's going to be a period of time after eighteen years in government when you can't do anything right, and people just kick you for the sake of it, will never admit they voted Conservative. |
| I'm not taking any interest in politics. I'm not involved in politics in any way. My life is in writing now. |
| Actually, Sydney is my second favourite city on earth, I love Sydney, but this is the greatest. |
| Whenever you analyse anyone who has had any success and they're in the headlines, you will find they are human and make mistakes. I'm certainly that and I've made a lot of mistakes. |
| I've loved art for more than 30 years. |
| I've been doing nineteen hours a day on London, nothing else, I mean this has been my whole life, and writing has been put on one side, and if I'm privileged enough to be the Mayor of this city, then I will not write again. |
| I am currently doing about 30 charity auctions a year. |
| We go on a lot in this country about offences being caused by drugs. The truth is just as many offences are caused by drink. And that should be taken into account. |
| I'm not involved in politics any more and they're quite right. |
| But I certainly made mistakes, for which I regret, I think most human beings in their lifetime make mistakes, mine ended up in two years prison - two very remarkable years from which I learnt a lot. |
| Sixty per cent of people entering prison today are illiterate. |
| I feel I have had a very interesting life, but I am rather hoping there is still more to come. I still haven't captained the England cricket team, or sung at Carnegie Hall! |
| And I did wonder - because it's now three years ago since I left prison - whether there would come a time when I would forget it, or it would be in the past as anything else might be - no, it's there every day of my life. |
| Well I certainly have learned and I hope I'm moving on and certainly two years of prison was a terrible punishment. |
| When I was three, I wanted to be four. When I was four, I wanted to be prime minister. |
| Exclusive will not be published in book format. |
| Well I think after leaving prison, and having written three diaries about life in prison, it became a sort of a new challenge to write another novel, to write a new novel. |
