Cabinet members are soon overwhelmed by the insistent demands of running their departments. On the whole, a period in high office consumers intellectual capital; it does not create it....The less ministers know at the outset, the more dependent they are on the only sources of available knowledge; the permanent officials.

In the end, the tragedy of Harold Wilson was that you couldn't believe a word he said

An MP is the only job where you have 70,000 employers, and only one employee.

It is tempting to deny, but if you deny you confirm what you won't deny.

I really think in the Commonwealth of Europe you should have Russia. I listed a hundred countries that would be in it and it would then be a really European United Nations.

It is not surprising that more and more people are coming to the conclusion that the ballot box is no longer an instrument that will secure political solutions... They can see that the parliamentary democracy we boast of is becoming a sham.

Middle class Labour leaders are recaptured by the establishment when they die.