• You are now in a situation where you say all these nice things about your party but you are ranged against the party with the party’s bitterest adversaries.

You see, I have not joined them, they’ve joined me. And the basic reason for joining is the nuclear deal. Because up to April 5 I supported the nuclear deal. I was in Washington on July 18, 2005 when we agreed to it. I supported Manmohan’s speech on July 29. I supported it on February 27, 2006 even though I was not a minister. But after April 5, when Condoleezza Rice shifted the goalposts of the agreement both in letter and in spirit and talked about NPT, permanent safeguards, annual waiver, IAEA inspection, it was a serious matter.

• What happened April 5 onwards?

What happened is that Condoleezza Rice, in the Senate sub-committee, in the House committee, changed the goalposts. When it was discussed in the House Tom Lantos said, On Iran, you must have a congruent foreign policy along with the US. I said since when, we are a non-aligned country. I have opposed American policy in Iraq, I have opposed them in Iran, I am opposing them on the nuclear deal...

• So you shifted your position on the nuclear deal.

Not me, I’ll give you the example of the sacking of Mr Jack Straw. Three foreign ministers were removed.

• This is the William Rees-Mogg article in The London Times...

... contd.