QUOTES of the week

‘I will be with you, whatever.’ Tony Blair writes to George W. Bush to offer support over Iraq, eight months before the US-led invasion.

‘This is not the time for soundbites but the hand of history should be feeling someone’s collar.’ MP Mark Durkan evokes memories of Blair’s infamous quote, after criticism of the former Prime Minister in the Chilcot Report.

‘Proof that the moron gene is in good health.’ Twitter user after a passenger is stopped at Stansted with a mobile phone case shaped like a handgun.

‘If you see it from the hills around, it looks like a mini Manhattan.’ National Trust’s Joseph Watson bangs the drum for the much-derided high-rise attractions of the London suburb of Croydon.

‘One letter was a pornographic fantasy about me and the writer who was 90. All the rude words were in Latin.’ Broadcaster Victoria Coren Mitchell recalls the weird fan mail she receives.

‘The Euro 2016 final will be between the only team that managed to beat Iceland and a team that finished below us in the group… not bad!’ Iceland team’s tweet after France and Portugal make it through to tonight’s showdown in Paris.

‘Theresa is a bloody difficult woman, but you and I worked with Margaret Thatcher!’ MP Ken Clarke’s unguarded comment on Tory leadership favourite Theresa May to fellow grandee Sir Malcolm Rifkind.

‘She was sort of in charge of pay and rations.’ Banker Robert Stephens is scathing about his former colleague Andrea Leadsom, the other Tory leadership hopeful, who is accused of overstating her City career.

‘To shoot in London and not go to the pub – that was hard.’ Alexander Skarsgard, who was banned from drinking alcohol while he bulked up to play Tarzan.