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.

Where asylum is used as a route to economic migration, it can cause deep resentment in the host community.

None of us believe countering terrorism is about party politics

If you don't create a sense of order and stability, if people do not feel secure, then progressive politics is dead. That is a fact of history. The right has always emerged supreme when destabilisation and insecurity prevail.

We obviously have the right to go back to Parliament and to say 'We, the sovereign body who are elected, are the only ones in the end who are answerable for the protection of security and stability in our country,'

Politics is only worthwhile if you are doing what you believe, regardless of the slings and arrows.