Quotes by David Miliband

“It is precisely because we are determined to build communities . . . that we are not ducking the infrastructure issues and have committed £6bn of taxpayers money to transport and other infrastructure projects in the Thames Gateway.”

“Understanding the needs of people is the first step towards victory. People need to see we have the right vision, values and policies. But the bottom line is that to stay in power we have to release power. We know that the new enemy is a sense of powerlessness.”

“We do not believe that revaluation will take place in this Parliament. Preparatory work for a revaluation in 2007 is being stood down, but the Valuation Office Agencys good work will provide a firm foundation on which to build in future.”

“We have a very creative approach to our curriculum.”

“Christopher Meyer, I think I am right in saying, is an expert on foreign policy. He is not an expert on the domestic issues that are going on inside communities in this country.”

“The love and commitment that theyve had to each other is deep and the anguish that they must be going through is dreadful.”

Communism was meant to be an alternative religion.

History is information. Memory is part of your identity.

The biggest novelty of 2013 will be new leadership in China. Very little is known about the views of the new leaders - who will rule the country for ten years. But we do know theyre the first generation of Chinese leaders who have spent the majority of their lives in a China opening up to the rest of the world.

The test of leadership for David Cameron was actually to bring the British Conservative Party back in to the mainstream.

One of the jewels in the crown of Labours time in office was the rescue of the National Health Service. As the Commonwealth Fund, the London School of Economics and the Nuffield Foundation have all shown, health reforms as well as additional investment were essential to improved outcomes, especially for poorer patients.

The biggest opportunity in 2013 is in Africa. It has seven out of the ten fastest-growing economies in the world. In Nigeria alone there are 100 million people with mobile phones. In total, 300 million Africans - five times the population of Britain - are in the middle class.

The wedding ring on my left hand was bought by my grandfather, Samuel Miliband, in Brussels in 1920. I never knew him, as he died when I was one. But his ring was kept by my aunt until it was placed on my finger by my wife Louise 32 years later.