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

Under a Labour government, there's virtually nowhere you can put your savings where they would be safe from the state. ... If you put money in a sock they'd probably nationalize socks.

If you want to get something said in the politics tell a man. If you want to get something done in the politics tell a woman

We are not prepared to consider special category status for certain groups of people serving sentences for crime. Crime is crime is crime, it is not political

I don't know what I would do without Whitelaw. Everyone should have a Willy.

The fact that seasoned politicians can say such ridiculous things - and get away with it - illustrates the degree to which the new dogma... has swept through the left-of-centre governing classes.

I wasn't lucky. I deserved it.