Being powerful is a lot like being a woman: If you have to tell someone that you are, invariably, you are not.

There are no personal sympathies in politics.

The first step in calculating which way to go is to find out where you are.

Most women defend themselves. It is the female of the species-it is the tigress and lioness in you which tends to defend when attacked.

I am not a consensus politician. Im a conviction politician.

If you lead a country like Britain, a strong country, a country which has taken a lead in world affairs in good times and in bad, a country that is always reliable, then you have to have a touch of iron about you.

The Government wants a peaceful settlement. But we totally reject a peaceful sell-out.