consider where he has spent most of his life.
Richard Littlejohn on Michael Shea, the Queenâs former press secretary, in the Sun
Iâm prepared to take advice on leisure from Prince Philip. Heâs a world expert on leisure. Heâs been practising for most of his adult life.
Neil Kinnock on Prince Philip, in the Western Mail
Why donât you naff off!
Princess Anne to reporters, in the Daily Mirror
He is a man of many ideas, most of them bad.
Oliver Kamm on Prince Charles
Itâs no wonder youâre deaf.
Prince Philip, to children from the British Deaf Association as they stood next to a Caribbean steel band
My, you must have fun chasing the soap around the bath.
Diana, Princess of Wales, shaking hands with a one-armed man in Australia, 1983
Â
People, Politicians and Government
In all ages, whatever the form and name of government, be it monarchy, republic, or democracy, an oligarchy lurks behind the façade.
Ronald Syme
Iâm starting to think that the Facebook status update I liked has had absolutely no influence on Government policy at all.
@RogerQuimbly
We have screwed up. Not a little but a lot. No country in Europe has screwed up as much as we have. It can be explained. We have obviously lied throughout the past 18 to 24 months. It was perfectly clear that what we were saying was not true ⦠I almost perished because I had to pretend for 18 months that we were governing. Instead we lied morning, noon and night.
Ferenc Gyurcsány, Hungarian Prime Minister, recorded in a private meeting to his party in 2006. The broadcast caused riots.
It is a peculiarity of our times that we want politicians to be more human, and then, when they screw up, we demand they be more professional.
Ann Treneman
I have found some of the best reasons I ever had for remaining at the bottom simply by looking at the men at the top.
Frank More Colby
He was a man of splendid abilities but utterly corrupt. Like rotten mackerel by moonlight, he shines and stinks.
John Randolph on fellow-US-politician Edward Livingstone
The urge to power is a personality disorder in its own right, like the urge to sexual congress with children or the taste for rubber underwear.
Auberon Waugh
One baby is a patient baby, and waits indefinitely until its mother is ready to feed it. The other baby is an impatient baby and cries lustily, screams and kicks and makes everybody unpleasant until it is fed. Well, we know perfectly well which baby is attended to first. That is the whole history of politics.
Emmeline Pankhurst
Generosity is part of my character, and I therefore hasten to assure this Government that I will never make an allegation ofdishonesty against it wherever a simple explanation of stupidity will suffice.
Leslie Lever
Being in politics is like being a football coach. You have to be smart enough to understand the game and dumb enough to think it is important.
Eugene J. McCarthy
If I had known Henry was going to be President I would have sent him to school.
A 19th-century President of Boliviaâs mother
There exists no politician in India daring enough to attempt to explain to the masses that cows can be eaten.
Indira Gandhi
No party in Ireland is prepared to accept anything except the impossible.
W.E. Gladstone
Sire, I have other sons.
Lord Stanley, at the Battle of Bosworth, having been told by Richard III that his son would be executed if Stanley did not support him
They are nothing else but a load of kippers â two-faced, with no guts.
Eric Heffer on the Conservative Government
A liberal is just a conservative who hasnât been mugged.
Hilton Hamman, South African self-defence expert
A liberal is a man too broad-minded to take his own side in a quarrel.
Robert Frost
A liberal is someone whose interests are not threatened at the moment.
Ann Leslie
A liberal is a conservative whoâs been arrested.
Tom Wolfe
Have I said something foolish?
Phocion, to his friend, Diogenes Laertius, after the
Richard Littlejohn on Michael Shea, the Queenâs former press secretary, in the Sun
Iâm prepared to take advice on leisure from Prince Philip. Heâs a world expert on leisure. Heâs been practising for most of his adult life.
Neil Kinnock on Prince Philip, in the Western Mail
Why donât you naff off!
Princess Anne to reporters, in the Daily Mirror
He is a man of many ideas, most of them bad.
Oliver Kamm on Prince Charles
Itâs no wonder youâre deaf.
Prince Philip, to children from the British Deaf Association as they stood next to a Caribbean steel band
My, you must have fun chasing the soap around the bath.
Diana, Princess of Wales, shaking hands with a one-armed man in Australia, 1983
Â
People, Politicians and Government
In all ages, whatever the form and name of government, be it monarchy, republic, or democracy, an oligarchy lurks behind the façade.
Ronald Syme
Iâm starting to think that the Facebook status update I liked has had absolutely no influence on Government policy at all.
@RogerQuimbly
We have screwed up. Not a little but a lot. No country in Europe has screwed up as much as we have. It can be explained. We have obviously lied throughout the past 18 to 24 months. It was perfectly clear that what we were saying was not true ⦠I almost perished because I had to pretend for 18 months that we were governing. Instead we lied morning, noon and night.
Ferenc Gyurcsány, Hungarian Prime Minister, recorded in a private meeting to his party in 2006. The broadcast caused riots.
It is a peculiarity of our times that we want politicians to be more human, and then, when they screw up, we demand they be more professional.
Ann Treneman
I have found some of the best reasons I ever had for remaining at the bottom simply by looking at the men at the top.
Frank More Colby
He was a man of splendid abilities but utterly corrupt. Like rotten mackerel by moonlight, he shines and stinks.
John Randolph on fellow-US-politician Edward Livingstone
The urge to power is a personality disorder in its own right, like the urge to sexual congress with children or the taste for rubber underwear.
Auberon Waugh
One baby is a patient baby, and waits indefinitely until its mother is ready to feed it. The other baby is an impatient baby and cries lustily, screams and kicks and makes everybody unpleasant until it is fed. Well, we know perfectly well which baby is attended to first. That is the whole history of politics.
Emmeline Pankhurst
Generosity is part of my character, and I therefore hasten to assure this Government that I will never make an allegation ofdishonesty against it wherever a simple explanation of stupidity will suffice.
Leslie Lever
Being in politics is like being a football coach. You have to be smart enough to understand the game and dumb enough to think it is important.
Eugene J. McCarthy
If I had known Henry was going to be President I would have sent him to school.
A 19th-century President of Boliviaâs mother
There exists no politician in India daring enough to attempt to explain to the masses that cows can be eaten.
Indira Gandhi
No party in Ireland is prepared to accept anything except the impossible.
W.E. Gladstone
Sire, I have other sons.
Lord Stanley, at the Battle of Bosworth, having been told by Richard III that his son would be executed if Stanley did not support him
They are nothing else but a load of kippers â two-faced, with no guts.
Eric Heffer on the Conservative Government
A liberal is just a conservative who hasnât been mugged.
Hilton Hamman, South African self-defence expert
A liberal is a man too broad-minded to take his own side in a quarrel.
Robert Frost
A liberal is someone whose interests are not threatened at the moment.
Ann Leslie
A liberal is a conservative whoâs been arrested.
Tom Wolfe
Have I said something foolish?
Phocion, to his friend, Diogenes Laertius, after the