British Politician Quotes

Nothing affects the heart like that which is purely from itself, and of its own nature; such as the beauty of sentiments, the grace of actions, the turn of characters, and the proportions and features of a human mind.

Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 7th Earl of Shaftesbury

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

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

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

What is that fat gentleman in such a passion about?

Charles Shaw-Lefevre, 1st Viscount Eversley

The Conservative Establishment has always treated women as nannies, grannies and fannies.

Parents are responsible for their children. That is the key belief and assertion.

There is a sacred realm of privacy for every man and woman where he makes his choices and decisions-a realm of his own essential rights and liberties into which the law, generally speaking, must not intrude.

Geoffrey Fisher

Of Adolf Hitler:

I, and many others who had interviews with him, were at first impressed by his sincerity, and later realized that he was sincere only in his belief that he was destined to rule the world.

Vernon Bartlett

We know that the organised workers of the country are our friends. As for the rest, they don't matter a tinker's cuss.

A great party is not to be brought down because of a scandal by a woman of easy virtue and a proved liar.

Jesus Christ was not a conservative. That's a racing certainty.

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

Better to break your party on a matter of principle than to let it fall to pieces because you cannot yourself make up your mind what you want to do.

Cuthbert Headlam

Those entrusted with arms…should be persons of some substance and stake in the country.

William Windham

When all is said, the floating vote lives up to its name. It floats with the tide; and whoever would influence it must first influence the tide.

Richard Law, 1st Baron Coleraine

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

I am an Orangeman first and a politician and member of this parliament [Stormont] afterwards.

James Craig, 1st Viscount Craigavon

Parliament itself would not exist in its present form had people not defied the law.

Arthur Scargill

I have no interest sitting all day in Brussels committees enacting job-killing, democracy-destroying legislation inspired by the EU.

God is a spirit. Jesus was led up of the Spirit to be tempted of the Devil; and it is also true that spirits are very likely to lead men to the Devil. Too intimate acquaintance with whisky toddy overnight is often followed by the delirium tremens and blue-devils on the morrow. We advise our readers to eschew alike spirituous and spiritual mixtures. They interfere sadly with sober thinking, and play the Devil with your brains.

Charles Bradlaugh

I am not good at dealing with the modern media…I have not felt I have been as effective as I should be, or as effective as you need me to be.

Resignation letter to Tony Blair

Loopholes are not always of a fixed dimension. They tend to enlarge as the numbers that pass through wear them away.

Harold Lever, Baron Lever of Manchester

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

Sound money is the oldest Conservative principle of all.

The archbishop [Archbishop Runcie] is usually to be found nailing his colors to the fence.