British Politician Quotes

On the Council of Europe and close ties between European countries:

If you open that Pandora's Box, you never know what Trojan 'orses will jump out.

Whoever of ye Whigs thinks I am to be Hecktor'd or frighted into a Complyance tho I am a woman, are mightely mistaken in me. I thank God I have a Soul above that, & am too much conserned for my reputation to do any thing to forfeit it.

Anne of Great Britain

The success of a leader will rise or fall on the decisions that he or she makes about the people around him or her.

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

We are talking about the biggest foreign policy mistake since Suez.

On the Iraq war

Politics is much too serious to be taken too seriously; equally, there are many aspects of it so laughable as to be lamentable.

Charles Kennedy

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

I was tenaciously opposed by the governor and deputy-governor of the Bank, who had seats in parliament, and I had the City for an antagonist on almost every occasion.

William Ewart Gladstone

The colonization and exploitation of Africa and the enslavement of African people must be the biggest crime in the whole of history, and one from which we still suffer, both materially and psychologically. Yet we never had even an apology, let alone any form of compensation.

When asked if he was in good heart about being Archbishop:

The phrase 'in good heart' gives me pause…We are here as a church to represent Christ crucified and the compassion of Christ crucified before the world. And, because that is so, it may be the will of God that our church should have its heart broken and perhaps the heart of its Archbishop broken with it.

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

Maurice Edelman

It is hard to say which is the greatest fool: he who tells the whole truth, or he who tells no truth at all. Character is as necessary in business as in trade. No man can deceive often in either.

Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield

In the last Parliament, the House of Commons had more MPs called John than all the women MPs put together.

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

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

Several of the women attending Cabinet —myself included—have been treated by you as little more than female window dressing.

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

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

Politicians are like monkeys. The higher they climb, the more revolting are the parts they expose.

Gwilym Lloyd George, 1st Viscount Tenby

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

How can students and parents plan for the future when they can't rely on the country's examination system to deliver fair results? We reject Labour's "government knows best" approach, but we certainly don't subscribe to a philosophy that lets people sink or swim. We believe that an active government should focus on doing what it can to help people get on with their lives.This is the true measure of a compassionate government.

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

Of the Liberal Unionists:

The mules of politics: without pride of ancestry, or hope of posterity.

John O'Connor Power

The country is going down the drain, and they are squabbling about the size of the plughole.

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