There will be no politics, no ifs and buts if we see something and feel that work needs to be done, we will get people here we can rely on and ensure it is done in the same thorough way as our other projects.

I don't take a great deal of interest in party politics. Social politics interests me a great deal more.

America wants solutions. America wants a leader. No more tabloid politics.

Growing up, politics never trickled down to the areas we come from. But people from Obama's camp, and Obama himself, reached out to me and asked for my help on the campaign. We've sat and had dinner, and we've spoken on the phone. He's a very sharp guy. Very charming. Very cool.

If you want to know about my politics, the only way to do that is to look at my work.

I have a lot of nice Italian winter clothes that make me look like a sophisticated Lebanese professor, so my friend Robert and I go around pretending to be experts in Arabic politics. It doesn't work in the summer though. I don't have the right clothes.

People feel politics isn't about their lives.

Good politics starts with empathy, proceeds to analysis, then sets out values and establishes the vision, before getting to the nitty-gritty of policy solutions.

Everything about my politics has been about the future.

I've committed myself to serve my constituents in South Shields and I have committed myself to British politics.