British Politician Quotes

To Chris Bryant who posted his photo wearing only underwear on a gay dating website while being a Member of Parliament:

Ah, Bryant, there you are. Nearly didn't recognize you with your clothes on.

Nicholas Soames

It is no good putting up notices saying 'Beware of the bull' because very rude things are sometimes written on them. I have found that one of the most effective notices is 'Beware of the Agapanthus'.

Viscount Massereene

O worship the King, all-glorious above;
O gratefully sing his power and his love:
Our Shield and Defender, the Ancient of Days,
Pavilioned in splendour, and girded with praise.

His life was a book of his own writing, one orderly page after another.

I have principles and I am not going to be forced to compromise them.

A system which betrays the greatest distrust of the people must never look for popular support.

I don't use or recognize the term 'bog standard' but what I do recognize is the critical importance of honesty about what some children, in some schools, have had to put up with over the years.

We can all agree–it has already been a measure of the debate–that Saddam Hussein is an evil tyrant with no regard for the sanctity of human life, for either his own citizens or the people of other countries. We all agree that he is in flagrant breach of a series of UN resolutions, and in particular those relating to his duty to allow the inspection, and indeed participate in the destruction, of his weapons of mass destruction. We can also agree that he most certainly has chemical and biological weapons and is working towards a nuclear capability. The dossier contains confirmation of information that we either knew or most certainly should have been willing to assume.

Menzies Campbell

Of British Cabinet government:

I don't think collective responsibility is a myth. I think it is a reality. It is cumbersome. It is difficult. It has all sorts of disadvantages and it is possible it may need to change [...] probably under any of these systems it is going to be a bit of a shambles. But I do think it has got to be, so far as possible, a democratic and accountable shambles.

John Hunt, Baron Hunt of Tanworth

No one for a moment can pretend that printing is so great a discovery as writing, or algebra as a language.

Benjamin Disraeli

Of Margaret thatcher:

She was a tigress surrounded by hamsters.

The personality conveyed by the utterances which are put into her mouth is that of a priggish schoolgirl, captain of the hockey team, a prefect, and a recent candidate for confirmation. It is not thus that she will be able to come into her own as an independent and distinctive character.

Of Queen Elizabeth II

If a sportsman true you'd be
Listen carefully to me.
Never, never let your gun
Pointed be at any one;
That it may unloaded be
Matters not the least to me.

Mark Hanbury Beaufoy

... above all, I must recommend to you the Care of the Navy, the Strength and Glory of this Nation, that you will put it into such a Condition, as may make us considered and respected Abroad. I cannot express My Concern upon this Occasion more suitable to My own Thoughts of it, than by assuring you I have a true English Heart, as jealous of the Honour of the Nation as you can be. And I please Myself with the Hopes, that, by GOD'S Blessing and your Assistance, I may carry the Reputation of it yet higher in the World, than ever it has been in the Time of any of My Ancestors.

James II of England

You are ordered abroad as a soldier of the King to help our French comrades against the invasion of a common enemy…In this new experience you may find temptations both in wine and women. You must entirely resist both temptations, and, while treating all women with perfect courtesy, you should avoid any intimacy. Do your duty bravely. Fear God. Honour the King.

One of the guidelines which I have laid down throughout my chancellorship is no return to boom and bust.

He gave himself diligently to mathematics, which he liked "vastly." "I believe they are useful," he writes, "and I am sure they are entertaining, which is alone enough to recommend them to me."

Sir George Trevelyan, 2nd Baronet

Trial by jury, instead of being a security to persons who are accused, will be a delusion, a mockery, and a snare.

Thomas Denman, 1st Baron Denman

Wine has made me bold, but not foolish; has induced me to say silly things, but not do them.

I expected to find a contest between a government and a people: I found two nations warring in the bosom of a single state.

Of Canada

John Lambton, 1st Earl of Durham

Bowing, ceremonious, formal compliments, stiff civilities, will never be politeness; that must be easy, natural, unstudied; and what will give this but a mind benevolent and attentive to exert that amiable disposition in trifles to all you converse and live with?

William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham

It would be desirable if every Government, when it comes to power, should have its old speeches burnt.

Philip Snowden, 1st Viscount Snowden

A long line of cases shows that it is not merely of some importance, but is of fundamental importance that justice should not only be done, but should manifestly and undoubtedly be seen to be done.

I am a man of peace. I am longing and working and praying for peace, but I will not surrender the safety and security of the British constitution. You placed me in power eighteen months ago by the largest majority accorded to any party for many, many years. Have I done anything to forfeit that confidence? Cannot you trust me to ensure a square deal to secure even justice between man and man?

Stanley Baldwin

Under David Cameron, we have this situation where you now need more qualifications to work as a shift manager at McDonald's than to become a teacher.