"Poor Steven Norris; once you've got a reputation for a tearaway tongue, it's hard to plead innocence even if someone's put words into your mouth. Once, as transport minister, he said he preferred cars to buses, because public transport meant sitting alongside awful people (but the irony was lost on the tabloids). As an MP, he joked that his Epping constituency had fallen off the back of a lorry (luckily Essex voters have a sense of humour). And when, in 1995, he was asked on TV why he was voting for John 'back me or sack me' Major in the leadership election, he famously replied, 'Because he's far and away the least worst option.'"