British Politician Quotes

There is a glut of chemical books, but a scarcity of chemical truths.

John French, 1st Earl of Ypres

Each successive Labour Government has been the most rapacious, doctrinaire and unpatriotic conspiracy to be seen this side of the Iron Curtain.

The socialist believes that it is better to be rich than poor, the Christian that it is better to be poor than rich.

Lord Hugh Cecil

56,000 companies have already benefited from the schemes that we have brought in. If we have taken the advice of the Conservative Party, no money would have been used. As Barack Obama said only yesterday, doing nothing is not an option.

When I came here seventeen years ago and I said that I wanted to lead a campaign to get Britain to leave the European Union, you all laughed at me — well, I have to say, yow're not laughing now, are you?

The only lasting solution is that Europe itself should gradually find its way to an internal equilibrium and a limitation of armaments by political appeasement.

Philip Kerr, 11th Marquess of Lothian

Denis Healey: Can he assure us there is no question of American military intervention as this could only make the situation worse?
Sir Geoffrey Howe: There is no question of that.

Truth is suppressed, not to protect the country from enemy agents but to protect the Government of the day against the people.

The tendency everywhere in America to concentrate power and responsibility in one man is unmistakable.

When once you have plunged into the strife for power, it is the fear of those who are seeking for power over you that so easily persuades to all the great crimes.

Auberon Herbert

Making every allowance for the errors of the most extreme fallibility, the history of Catholicism would on this hypothesis represent an amount of imposture probably unequaled in the annals of the human race.

William Edward Hartpole Lecky

Of course there are regrets. I shall regret always that I found my own authentic voice in politics. I was too conservative, too conventional. Too safe, too often. Too defensive. Too reactive. Later, too often on the back foot.

I foresee a Liberal vote so massive and the number of Liberal MPs so great that we shall hold the initiative in the new Parliament.

The Conservative Party always in time forgives those who were wrong. Indeed often, in time, they forgive those who were right.

It is in this context that Trotsky's attack on Stalin must be understood. Trotsky's attack on Stalin was not directed against Stalin as an individual but against someone who during the course of struggle had emerged as the most representative spokesman of the Bolshevik Party which was upholding, defending, and applying Leninism. The main target of Trotsky's attacks, therefore, was not Stalin but the Bolshevik Party. It was revolutionary Bolshevism - Leninism - that was under attack. It was an attack on the metodhs and forms of organisation of the Bolshevik Party - an attack on the fundamental Leninist policies pursued by the Party.

As a child, of a politician (James Fox):

What is that fat gentleman in such a passion about?

Charles Shaw-Lefevre, 1st Viscount Eversley

I have got an infamous army, very weak and ill-equipped, and a very inexperienced staff.

Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington

The evil was not in either ideal; the evil was in the attempt to impose that ideal by force upon others.

People in this country have had enough of experts.

I believe with all my heart that the Church of Jesus Christ should be a Church of blurred edges.

There is no presumption in this country that every person knows the law: it would be contrary to common sense and reason if it were so.

William Henry Maule

When I pass a belt, I can't resist hitting below it.

I dislike censorship. Like an appendix it is useless when inert and dangerous when active.

Maurice Edelman

I shall not hesitate to issue writs for libel and slander if scandalous allegations are made or repeated outside the House.

As a result of uncertainties caused by the French referendum, massive speculative flows have continued to disrupt the functioning of the exchange rate mechanism. As Chairman of Ecofin I have tonight called an urgent meeting of the EC's monetary committee to consider how stability might be restored to the markets over the next few days.
In the meantime the Government has decided that Britain's best interests would be best secured by suspending our membership of the ERM with immediate effect. As a result, the second of the two interest rate rises announced today will not take effect.