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" Throughout my political life, I've not been a stranger to controversy. "

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" My job as Labour Home Secretary is to ensure people are prepared to listen to us when we take on our opponents across the political spectrum. "

" I didn't come into politics to have to deal with the issue of clandestine entry, illegal working, or an asylum system that allows a free run for right-wing bigots. "

" I have never tried to fiddle my role as leader of the city of Sheffield, as an MP or as a minister. "

" Politics is about the participation and engagement of the wider citizenry - to miss that point would doom us to irrelevance. "

" I grew up in one of the most deprived parts of Britain. I know the problems which inner-city children face. "

" We must draw on our early roots and remind people why the Labour party was created and who it sought to represent. We have never been a sectional party promoting self-interest, but instead a force for engaging self-reliance and self-determination. "

" As education and employment secretary in 1997, I inherited hundreds of schools where the roofs leaked, the windows rattled, and they relied entirely on outside toilets. "

" At this very moment in time there will be people making, breaking relationships, regretting deeply what they've done, and causing hurt, but that is a fact of life, and if we weren't full of emotion, we'd be automatons, and I don't think people want us to be that. "

" It would be dangerous territory if I wasn't practising what I preach which is to always accept responsibility, always accept the consequences of your actions. "

" I did not in late November start the plethora of linking my private life with public events again. "

" Crucially, I'd like to thank Labour party members up and down the country for sticking with us. For their active citizenship, their willingness to engage in our democracy, and for being there at the cutting edge of making our democracy work. "

" The democratic state can sometimes abuse its power as much as those who seek to destroy it abuse fundamental rights and democratic practices. "

" We need to build on what we know works - local oversight of schools to keep a check on performance, timely interventions in schools to support those at risk of failing, and partnerships between schools to help each one to improve. "

" In the U.K., we have always been an open, trading nation, enriched by our global links. Contemporary patterns of migration extend this tradition. "

" In Sheffield, we need support from the community and for the community. We need integration with no loss of heritage, and a clear appreciation of what is and is not acceptable. "

" I'm convinced that quite a lot of young people, when they get in trouble with the law, it's a cry for help there. Because it's not that they go out to offend. It's that their behaviour is self-parading, it's the big 'I'. And sometimes that means they're really lacking in confidence. "

" I said it's impossible to have an amnesty without ID cards and a clean database, because you firstly don't have any incentives for people to actually come up front and register, and make themselves available, and secondly you have no means of tracking them. "

" The Home Office culture was one of being just above the problem, of hovering just out of reach of knowing what was going on on the ground, whether it was crime or immigration. "

" I was affected by the harshness of government, the reality of 16-hour days, and the pressures of modern communications. "

" When I first came into parliament, there was, on average, a by-election every three months - due not to MPs bailing out, but because of the death rate. "

" In today's world, learning has become the key to economic prosperity, social cohesion and personal fulfillment. We can no longer afford to educate the few to think, and the many to do. "

" It's not just parliament that requires radical modernisation. It's our democratic processes. "

" People from all over the world were killed in the attacks on the World Trade Centre. They came from many different cultural, ethnic and religious backgrounds. Christian, Jewish, Muslim and Hindu believers were killed together as they worked in the towers. "

" Solidarity and interdependence, a sense of worth, a pride and hope in the future: these are positive gains for those who believe in progressive politics and the beneficial role of government, rather than a detriment. "

" What is it that unites, on the left of British politics, George Orwell, Billy Bragg, Gordon Brown and myself? An understanding that identity and a sense of belonging need to be linked to our commitment to nationhood and a modern form of patriotism. "

" For six and a half years, I had responsibility for leading the Labour party policy on education and delivering on our promise of improved opportunities for all our children. "

" Despite being in public life, I value my own privacy immensely and would be as concerned as anyone else if I thought my mobile phone records could be easily available to officials across government. "

" I don't like prolonged, highly expensive commissions, especially if they are chaired by judges. We seem to have overwhelming faith in judges. "

" In an ageing society, it makes sense to support older adults to develop new skills, prolonging their working lives. "

" I prefer a positive view of freedom, drawing on another tradition of political thinking that goes all the way back to the ancient Greek polis. "