In 1981, I spoke at the Olympic Congress. I was scandalised that I was the first athlete to be given that chance. But I made the most of it.

I've always referred to my father as 'my coach' because we were always able to separate our relationship into the roles of coach and parent.

Today, there's an expectation that you get to know public people. In the past, it was much more what you did and how you presented yourself.

The U.K.-U.S. defense relationship is the broadest, deepest and most advanced of any two countries, sharing military hardware and expertise.

When you reduce taxes on higher earners it's vital to be reducing them on lower earning people as well so the nation shares in the approach.

Over the moon about strong support for the National Health Service - an institution I will defend to my dying day, second only to Everton FC.

I don't have a problem with other people having different faith; my problem is if we confuse respecting that with surrendering our own faith.

You have to make the compromise: resign, stay out of the government, and you can say what you like... but no one has to do anything about it.

I was the first woman British commissioner, the first woman trade commissioner, so I am also proud to be the first woman High Representative.

We have pledged to be the greenest government ever. We must lead by example...We are not asking others to do things we will not do ourselves.

There are hard choices to be made in balancing the country's security and an individual's liberties. But it is a choice that has to be faced.

It is now in Gordon Brown's - and the Labour party's - best interests for those seeking the prime minister's immediate departure to back off.

The democratic state can sometimes abuse its power as much as those who seek to destroy it abuse fundamental rights and democratic practices.

My job as Labour Home Secretary is to ensure people are prepared to listen to us when we take on our opponents across the political spectrum.

I don't like prolonged, highly expensive commissions, especially if they are chaired by judges. We seem to have overwhelming faith in judges.

I don't get up in the morning and think my mission is to end Britain. I do get up in the morning and think that my mission is to end poverty.

Stop invading Muslims lands! How can you expect Muslims to love you when you are forcefully occupying their lands and murdering their people?

Politics is a process, and there has to be a continual conversation between those who govern and those who give their consent to be governed.

The reason why I'm in Parliament is not really to see my colleagues win power; it is to see us at last in a position where we can give it up.

In the modern age where everything is connected to everything, the most important thing about what you can do is what you can do with others.

Inheritance Tax; - it is, broadly speaking; a voluntary levy paid by those who distrust their heirs more than they dislike the Inland Revenue

Our prisons are full of people who are illiterate and innumerate, have been failed by the care system, and often have had a parent in prison.

I think that special relationship between the UK and the US has been an important part of security across the world particularly to the West.

Let's start getting some free trade agreements started as soon as we can. We need to get on with it; we need to get a grip and make progress.

Women often focus more on delivery - what is the outcome going to be rather than what are the interactions people have in order to get there.

Wouldn't it be better to have a watertight law designed to catch the guilty, rather than a press release law designed to catch the headlines?

Never judge something by whether it is popular or not. You don't have to follow trends. No one thought William Wilberforce was right at first.

The only person I think I actually do dislike is John McDonnell. I actually do think he's a nasty piece of work because he's an IRA apologist.

Democracy demands trust. It demands that sense of mutual understanding. And - it's a two way street. You've got to give - as much as you take.

No longer can a bailiff come crashing through someone's door in the dead of night. We have banned them from visiting between 9 P.M. and 6 A.M.

I think it's fair to set limits, so that people cannot receive more than the equivalent of the national average wage while living on benefits.

My stock answer when people ask 'Are you Britain's Barack Obama?' is 'I'm quite happy being Streatham's Chuka Umunna,' and I really mean that.

You cannot carry on forever squeezing the productive bit of the economy in order to fund an unprecedented engorgement of the unproductive bit.

I prefer a positive view of freedom, drawing on another tradition of political thinking that goes all the way back to the ancient Greek polis.

I am not a parliamentarian. I am a politician. Some MPs leave and are itching to get back. I don't feel that. This is just a work environment.

I was always brought up that if you can make a difference, you should, and if you don't it's a waste. So we'll see if I can make a difference.

China is absolutely one of the biggest players in the world and if Britain wants to be connected to the world it has to be connected to China.

It's good to remember the unburied dead and the uncollected rubbish. Most of it can now be seen on the Labour benches in the House of Commons.

It is certainly safe, in view of the movement to the right of intellectuals and political thinkers, to pronounce the brain death of socialism.

The countries that succeed will be those that are nimble and able to use their human capital to take advantage of opportunities as they arise.

Every time there is a terrorist incident involving evil fanatics who abuse the name of Islam, ordinary, law-abiding Muslims pay a heavy price.

When I was growing up, anyone who wasn't white was black. It meant all of us. Though when I was at university, we started to be called Asians.

We have to recognise there are very few countries you will take the Games to where somebody doesn't have issues on foreign or domestic policy.

It is more important to engage the public positively with choice and competition to everyone than to be directed into a benefit for a minority.

I am not an enthusiast when it comes to cities, preferring rolling scenery, wildlife and stars to museums, monuments, architecture and traffic.

I find no contradiction between being a Highlander, a Scot, a citizen of the U.K. and a citizen of the European Union at one and the same time.

I have met virtually no one in the policing and security world who thinks ID cards are an essential part of what they need to do in the future.

It is normal for politicians in all countries to profess themselves the pupils of history, anxious to draw the right lessons from her teaching.

You could get a cheer by saying: 'Let's withdraw from Afghanistan', but I don't think that's where the public's at. It wouldn't be responsible.

A small man intoxicated by being allowed to run around with the big, aggressive, powerful boys after so many years as a corduroy-clad peacenik.

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