Members of the European Parliament

"Reports show that the combined Gross Domestic Product of forty-eight countries is less than the wealth of the three richest people in the world. Fifteen billionaires have assets greater than the total national income of Africa, south of the Sahara. Thirty-two people own more than the annual income of everyone who lives in South Asia. Eighty-four rich people have holdings greater than the GDP of China, a nation with 1.2 billion citizens."

"There is no doubt that hundreds, probably thousands of Jews were shot to death in Eastern Europe because they were, rightly or wrongly, seen as Communists or potential partisans or partisan supporters. That was awful. But this nonsense about gas chambers is exposed as a total lie."

"I do not just believe I am right, I know I am right."

"We believe not just that our people are different from others, but that such genuine diversity is worth preserving. It is not a matter of 'superiority' or 'inferiority'."

"We do not demand for our own people any more than the basic human rights which we would extend to every nation, people and tribe on this planet: the right to preserve their own territory, traditions and ethnic identity. The right to preserve, in other words, the things which, by marking their differences from the mass of humanity, make them human and turn their society from an ant heap into a community. We believe, in a nutshell, in the human right to discriminate."

"The soft seduction of consumer global capitalism reduce the nations of the West to a rootless mass of Americanised consumers, without identity, without pride and without a future. Children identify with the grotesque and vulgar instead of noble heroes and beautiful princesses in castles. Teenagers ape the antics of degenerate pop-stars whose example leads hundreds of thousands into the living death of drug addiction, not to mention the tragedy of the image conscious girls (mainly) who feel compelled to starve themselves to get "the look" and of course the spiralling number of abortions. Adults perform meaningless jobs, in conditions of mind-destroying boredom, to earn enough money to buy the latest needlessly created want to be pushed on television as the thing without which their neighbours will regard them as worthless failures. Old folk die unnoticed and lie rotting for weeks, even months, in barred and bolted flats in inhuman tower blocks, unofficial prisons which become tombs for those who no longer have any economic value. Do not be fooled by the glossy packaging of the consumer society. Where state socialism was a creed of terror and stagnation, capitalism is one of apathy and death."

"As for 'racism', the modern BNP opposes mass immigration and multi-culturalism on the grounds that human biocultural diversity is being exterminated by global capitalism. It demands for every single people and culture on planet Earth the right to self-preservation which it seeks for its own. Such a position is clearly out of step with the extermination-through-assimilation model of multi-culturalism promoted by the dominant ideology of the USA, but it equally clearly has nothing to do with 'hate' or wishing to harm others."

"In Britain and indeed the entire West, today, we are part way through a process – artificially imposed by a dogmatic liberal ruling class - that is steadily destroying the very possibility of preserving our racial and cultural differences, and the unique nations to which they have given rise."

"I'm not in politics for cheap cheers; if I was I could probably have had a safe Tory seat years ago. I'm in it, among other things, because I want to help stop the immigration which is destroying this and every other white nation in the world. Then I want to see that deadly tide turned."

"Yes. There is a wider range of takeaway food. That's it."

"The BNP isn't about selling out its ideas, which are your ideas too, but we are determined to sell them. Basically, that means to use saleable words – such as freedom, identity, security, democracy. [...] Once we're in a position where we control the British broadcasting media, then perhaps one day the British people might change their mind and say, 'yes, every last one must go'. But if you hold that out as your sole aim to start with, you're not going to get anywhere. So, instead of talking about racial purity, we talk about identity. [...] There's a difference between selling out your ideas and selling your ideas, and the British National Party isn't about selling out its ideas, which are your ideas too, but we are determined now to sell them, and that means basically to use the saleable words, as I say, freedom, security, identity, democracy. Nobody can criticise them. Nobody can come at you and attack you on those ideas. They are saleable."

"Western values, freedom of speech, democracy and rights for women are incompatible with Islam, which is a cancer eating away at our freedoms and our democracy and rights for our women and something needs to be done about it."

"[The Koran is] not a religious book, but a manual for conquering other people's countries."

"Same-sex marriage isn't about rights of gay people. It's fundamentally an attack by a Trotskyite-Leftist and capitalist elite which wants the pink pound and the pink dollar. It's an attack on marriage. It's an attack on tradition. It's an attack on the fabric of our society. [...] Teach them about homosexuality? That's not in any way for the rights of homosexuals. That's some dirty pervert trying to mess with the minds of my kids, and I think it's great that a major European power has stood up and said: Leave our kids alone!"

"The man's not perfect, but he's streets ahead of any other possible winner."

"I destroyed the British National Party - we had a far-right party in this country who genuinely were anti-Jew, anti-Black, all of those things, and I came along, and said to their voters, if you're holding your nose and voting for this party as a protest, don't. Come and vote for me - I'm not against anybody, I just want us to start putting British people first, and I, almost single-handedly, destroyed the far-right in British politics. If I hadn't been around, and done what I'd done, that strain of opinion would've been represented by (former BNP leader) Nick Griffin, and the BNP, and would genuinely have been motivated by hate. I'm not motivated by that, I'm not against anybody."

"Everyone knows that the Chinese regime is coming to an end. I just say to the people in China who are guilty of crimes of genocide, such as harvesting organs from Falun Gong prisoners—we know your names. We know what you're doing… and you will be punished. This is the world of 2006 and beyond. It is a world of human rights and democracy, and a world in which the CCP has no place."

"I think that politics needs a bit of spicing up."

"We seek an amicable divorce from the European Union and its replacement with a genuine free-trade agreement, which is what my parents' generation thought we’d signed up for in the first place."

"You have the charisma of a damp rag, and the appearance of a low-grade bank clerk. And the question that I want to ask, […] that we're all going to ask, is "Who are you?" I'd never heard of you. Nobody in Europe had ever heard of you. I would like to ask you, President, who voted for you, and what mechanism … oh, I know democracy's not popular with you lot, and what mechanism do the people of Europe have to remove you? Is this European democracy? Well, I sense, I sense though that you are competent and capable and dangerous, and I have no doubt in your intention, to be the quiet assassin of European democracy, and of the European nation states. You appear to have a loathing for the very concept of the existence of nation states - perhaps that's because you come from Belgium, which of course is pretty much a non-country. But since you took over, we've seen Greece reduced to nothing more than a protectorate. Sir, you have no legitimacy in this job at all, and I can say with confidence that I speak on behalf of the majority of British people in saying: We don't know you, we don't want you, and the sooner you're put out to grass, the better."

"I have been called a great many things in my time – that's politics."

"And I honestly predict that I mean this. That if we go on doing this to Greece. We will drive that country into a violent revolution."

"And what is the reaction of the British political class? Well the Lib Dems, still think that the Euro is a success! I don't quite think where Cleggy gets this from, I don't know. Perhaps he is considering an alternative career as a stand up comedian, once he's out of politics."

"When people stand up and talk about the great success that the EU has been, I'm not sure anybody saying it really believes it themselves anymore."

"It is virtually impossible for what you are voting on to remain as it is currently. There could be huge changes to the [EU fiscal] treaty and there could be huge changes to the euro zone itself."

"The EU is mired in deep structural crisis. Greece, Portugal and Ireland cannot survive inside the Euro."

"If Spain goes, Europe on its own will not be big enough to save the banks."

"The situation in Greece just goes from bad to worse. We’ve now got a situation where there was the big suicide a few weeks ago, where a 77-year-old man shot himself in the head outside the Greek Parliament. That was the public face of what’s gone wrong."

"But do you know that every day there are people that are literally leaving their children at the doors of the Greek Orthodox Church, with notes around their necks saying, ‘We cannot afford to feed or look after these children, please take them from us.’ Can you imagine that?"

"This is taking place inside Europe. This is taking place inside a once great nation. The nation that invented democracy. We are on the edge of total social breakdown. And frankly, as far as the euro is concerned and the austerity measures are concerned, the medicine is killing the patient."

"I do think that the banking system is now in the most perilous state we’ve seen in over 70 years."

"The euro Titanic has now hit the iceberg - and there simply aren't enough lifeboats to go round."

"[EU leaders] are not undemocratic. They are anti-democratic. These are very bad and dangerous people. They are the worst people we have seen in Europe since 1945."

"If we are just going to have a fudged referendum on 'do we stay in or go further?' then that's not good enough."

"Once again, I challenge the Prime Minister to have an open debate with me on why he believes we must stay part of this failing, corrupt EU. The future of our nation is at stake. Mr Cameron, you have my phone number."

"As you are well aware, the last time the people of this country were given a say on membership of the European Union was back in 1975. This must have been a factor in your thinking when, in 2007, you gave a “cast-iron guarantee” to hold a referendum if you became Prime Minister. Since that promise, however, your message on the issue has been confusing and misleading. You say the time is not right but refuse to clarify when the time will be right. You believe that leaving would not be in our best interests and an in/out referendum is flawed because it offers a “single choice”. In last week’s Sun poll, almost 70 per cent of voters said they would like a referendum. In the same poll, a clear majority said they would like to leave the EU and yet your plans would deny them that opportunity. I believe the British people, along with many of your own backbench MPs, want and deserve a straight in/out choice in a referendum. I propose a public debate between us where we can put our respective cases forward. My challenge to you is an open and honest one and I hope you will afford me, and the people of this country, a proper say on the matter."

"We know the costs of Europe. What are the benefits?"

"[On his aircraft accident during the 2010 general election campaign] I survived a bloody crash [...] I have more vigor and vim and gusto then I ever had before. I’m also an inch shorter."

"I'm not really a politician [..] I’m actually a businessman. I supported Margaret Thatcher, I believed in Ronald Reagan, I believe in free markets, I believe in small government, enterprise, hard work, and I believe in a taxation system that doesn’t punish those who do well in life."

"Rather than bring peace and harmony, the EU will cause insurgency and violence."

"I'm not for sale, neither is UKIP."

"The opening of the doors on January 1, 2014, to 29 million Romanians and Bulgarians is going to become a huge issue next year."

"I have to say that everybody from David Cameron to half this panel say, "Wouldn't it be terrible if we were like Norway and Switzerland?" Really? They're rich. They're happy. They're self governing."

"[Any changes Mr Cameron could obtain from Brussels would be cosmetic and the UK risks becoming] a province of a United States of Europe"

"Winning this referendum, if and when it comes, is not going to be an easy thing but I feel that UKIP's real job starts today,"

"We wouldn't want to be like the Swiss, would we? That would be awful! We'd be rich!"

"I was asked last week if UKIP would have been necessary if Mrs Thatcher had not been overthrown before the Maastricht treaty. Had she still been in power in 1992 there would have been a referendum on that treaty, and the need for UKIP would probably never have arisen."

"If this is the face of Scottish nationalism, it's a pretty ugly nation."

"Absolutely none. But rather more than the BBC do. We could have had this interview in England a couple of years ago, although I wouldn’t have met with such hatred that I’m getting from your questions, and frankly I’ve had enough of this interview. Goodbye."

"I want friendship, co-operation and trade (with the EU). I don't want to be part of a political union."

"[Asked for the leader he held in the greatest respect] As an operator, but not as a human being, I would say [[Vladimir Putin|[Vladimir] Putin]]."

"The way he played the whole Syria thing. Brilliant. Not that I approve of him politically. How many journalists in jail now?"

"[Responding to criticism of his comments in the GQ interview] I said it just after parliament had voted not to go to war in Syria, thank God. One of the things Putin said did actually change the debate in this country … I did make it perfectly clear. It depends what it means by the word … I said I don't like him, I wouldn't trust him and I wouldn't want to live in his country, but compared with the kids who run foreign policy in this country, I've more respect for him than our lot."

"When I said yes to these debates I thought you would honestly make the pro-EU case. By saying 7% of our laws are made in Brussels, you are wilfully lying to the British people about the extent to which we have given control of our country and our democracy and I am really shocked and surprised you would do that."

"[immigration is] good for the rich because it's cheaper nannies and cheaper chauffeurs and cheaper gardeners but it's bad news for ordinary Britons... it has left the white working class effectively as an underclass, and I think that is a disaster for our society"

"I want the EU to end but I want it to end democratically. If it doesn't end democratically I'm afraid it will end very unpleasantly."

"Any normal and fair-minded person would have a perfect right to be concerned if a group of Romanian people suddenly moved in next door."

"today we are rushing through, at undue speed, an Association Agreement with the Ukraine, and as we speak there are NATO soldiers engaged in military exercises in the Ukraine. Have we taken leave of our senses? Do we actually want to have a war with Putin? Because if we do, we are certainly going about it the right way."

"The Labour Party hate the concept of Englishness. They have done for a very long time. New Labour can't even stand the concept of patriotism. They think the flag somehow is unpleasant, backward-looking and nasty. People like Emily Thornberry would rather we had that blue flag with 12 stars on it that comes to us from Brussels."

"Of course we're good enough. Switzerland has negotiated more global free-trade agreements than we have, without being part of the European Union, and Iceland, with a population of 300,000 people has signed its own tariff-free deal with China."

"A couple of times I've been stuck on the motorway and surrounded by swarms of potential migrants to Britain and once, even, they tried the back door of the car to see whether they could get in."

"There's not much point in having a United Kingdom if we're governed from somewhere else. We may as well become a satellite state of the European Union because that's virtually what we are. Our courts aren't supreme. Our parliaments aren't supreme, whether that's in Holyrood or in Westminster. This is not about Scotland's relationship with Westminster. This is about whether Scotland wants to be part of an independent UK."

"In a 52-48 referendum this would be unfinished business by a long way. If the Remain campaign win two-thirds to one-third that ends it."

"We are being sold that this is all about trade and that the single market is soft and cuddly and lovely like a baby puppy. But actually it is a smokescreen for the real, simply proposition of this referendum. It's actually rather simple: do you wish us to be a self-governing, independent, democratic nation or part of a bigger, broader, European Union?"

"No deal is better than the rotten deal that we have at the moment"

"[Brexit] will be a victory for ordinary people, for decent people."

"Dare to dream that the dawn is breaking on an independent United Kingdom."

"Let June 23 go down in our history as our independence day."

"We have fought against the multinationals, we have fought against the big merchant banks, we have fought against big politics, we have fought against lies, corruption and deceit, and today honesty, decency and belief in nation, I think now is going to win. And we will have done it without having to fight, without a single bullet being fired. We'd have done it by damned hard work on the ground."

"[A second referendum is] the last thing I want to see. It's not a game of the best of three."

"I destroyed the British National Party - we had a far-right party in this country who genuinely were anti-Jew, anti-Black, all of those things, and I came along, and said to their voters, if you're holding your nose and voting for this party as a protest, don't. Come and vote for me - I'm not against anybody, I just want us to start putting British people first, and I, almost single-handedly, destroyed the far-right in British politics. If I hadn't been around, and done what I'd done, that strain of opinion would've been represented by (former BNP leader) Nick Griffin, and the BNP, and would genuinely have been motivated by hate. I'm not motivated by that, I'm not against anybody."

"[Referring to his life after ceasing to be Ukip leader earlier in 2016] I am not having to deal with low-grade people every day, I am not responsible for what our branch secretary in Lower Slaughter said half-cut on Twitter last night – that isn't my fault any more. I don't have to go to eight-hour party executive meetings. I don't have to spend my life dealing with people I would never have a drink with, who I would never employ and who use me as a vehicle for their own self-promotion. There are a lot of great people in Ukip. The problem is that Ukip has become a bit like the other parties: people view it as a means to get elected."

"All of us in our lives go through ups and downs and I regret the down that I am in at the moment. But I make this plea, particularly to the media - please leave my wife and children alone. Don't hassle them, don't intimidate them. They don't deserve it and it's simply not fair."

"Well, it's very successful politics, isn't it? You know, we are the turkeys that have voted for Christmas."

"If Brexit is a disaster, I will go and live abroad, I'll go and live somewhere else."

"It was always monstrous that she should be judged in the image of her father – an accusation many still make today. I wonder whether, had her surname not been "Le Pen", she might now be ahead in the polls. There is nothing she has said in this entire election campaign that I find unreasonable or extreme."

"[T]he time has come for me to get off the fence and say that I do want to see Marine Le Pen win on Sunday. She would make a good leader of France and is the right candidate for Brexit Britain."

"But if they don't deliver this Brexit that I spent 25 years of my life working for, then I will be forced to don khaki, pick up a rifle and head for the front lines."

"There are about six million Jewish people living in America, so as a percentage it’s quite small, but in terms of influence it’s quite big. Well in terms of money and influence they are a powerful lobby and America has interfered elections all over the world for decades, there is a degree of hypocrisy. [...] he makes the point that there are powerful foreign lobbies in the US, and the Jewish lobby with its links to the Israeli government is one of those strong voices."

"We have nothing to fear and that is the reason why we should only accept a clean and clear Brexit, not some fudge."

"The very idea of Tommy Robinson being at the centre of the Brexit debate is too awful to contemplate. And so, with a heavy heart, and after all my years of devotion to the party, I am leaving Ukip today. There is a huge space for a Brexit party in British politics, but it won't be filled by Ukip."

"Belgium is not a nation!"

"If we don’t leave on October 31, then the scores you’ve seen for the Brexit Party today will be repeated in a general election, and we are getting ready for it."

"A Johnson government committed to doing the right thing and The Brexit Party working in tandem would be unstoppable."

"The withdrawal agreement is not Brexit. It is a betrayal of what 17.4 million people voted for. If you insist on the withdrawal agreement, Mr Johnson, we will fight you in every seat up and down the length and breadth of the United Kingdom."

"When you get it out of the fridge it’s really appetising and delicious for a few days, but after a couple of weeks it stinks and is inedible."

"Do I find a seat to try get myself into parliament or do I serve the cause better traversing the length and breadth of the United Kingdom supporting 600 candidates, and I've decided the latter course is the right one."

"So this is it, the final chapter, the end of the road. A 47-year political experiment that the British frankly have never been very happy with. My mother and father signed up to a common market, not to a political union, flags, anthems, presidents, and now you even want your own army. For me, it has been 27 years of campaigning and over 20 years here in this parliament. I’m not particularly happy with the agreement we’re being asked to vote on tonight. But Boris has been remarkably bold in the last few months… he’s promised us there will be no level playing field, and on that basis, I wish him every success in the next round of negotiations, I really do."

"What happens at 11pm this Friday the 31st of January 2020 marks the point of no return. Once we’ve left, we’re never coming back and the rest frankly is detail. We’re going, and we will be gone. And that should be the summit of my own political ambitions. I walked in here, you all thought it was terribly funny but you stopped laughing in 2016. But my view of Europe has changed since I joined. In 2005, I saw the constitution that had been drafted… and saw it rejected by the French in a referendum. I saw it rejected by the Dutch in a referendum. And I saw you, in these institutions, ignore them. [You brought it back] as the Lisbon treaty, and boast you could ram it through without there being referendums. Well, the Irish did have a vote and did say no, and were forced to vote again. You’re very good at making people to vote again, but what we’ve proved is the British are too big to bully, thank goodness. So I became an outright opponent of the whole European project. I want Brexit to start a debate across the whole of Europe. What do we want from Europe? If we want trade, friendship cooperation, reciprocity, we don’t need a European Commission, we don’t need a European court. We don’t need these institutions and all of this power. And I can promise you, both in UKIP and in the Brexit party, we love Europe. We just hate the European Union."

"I hope this begins the end of this project. It is a bad project. It isn’t just undemocratic, it is antidemocratic. It puts in that front row, it gives people power without unaccountability. People who cannot be held to account by the electorate and that is an unacceptable structure."

"There is a historic battle going on across the west, in Europe, America, and elsewhere. It is globalism against populism. And you may loathe populism, but I’ll tell you a funny thing. It is becoming very popular! And it has great benefits. No more financial contributions, no more European Courts of Justice. No more European Common Fisheries Policy, no more being talked down to. No more being bullied, no more Guy Verhofstadt! What’s not to like. I know you’re going to miss us, I know you want to ban our national flags, but we’re going to wave you goodbye, and we’ll look forward in the future to working with you as a sovereign nation… [Farage is cut off by the chair]"

"What a nonsense, sadly said under parliamentary privilege. I had two small appearance fees back then, well under £5,000 [in 2016 and 2017]. Not appeared since. [...] I didn't do anything with RT in 2018."

"What Brexit has proved, I'm afraid, is that our politicians are about as useless as the commissioners in Brussels were. We have mismanaged this totally and if you look at simple things, simple things such as takeovers, such as corporation tax, we are driving business away from our country. Arguably, now we are back in control, we are regulating our own businesses even more than they were as EU members. Brexit has failed."

"We could have got it down to 50,000. If they put me in charge of it we would have got to 50,000 a year, no question about it, but they didn't."

"They have ignored what was said in that Brexit referendum and so now a bigger question emerges as to how we are going to change politics in this country."

"I wasn't in charge. Had we been a European country with proportional representation, I would have been in a position of authority to work with Government to try and achieve this."

"I got a phone call a couple of months ago to say 'we are closing your accounts', I asked 'why', no reason was given. I was told a letter would come which will explain everything, the letter came through and simply said 'we are closing your accounts, we want to finish it all by a date', which is around about now. I didn't quite know what to make of it, I complained, I emailed the chairman, a lackey phoned me to say that it was a commercial decision, which I have to say, I don't believe for a single moment. So I thought, well there we are, I'll have to go and find a different bank, I've been to seven banks, asked them all 'could I have a personal and a business account?', and the answer has been no in every single case. There is nothing irregular or unusual about what I do, the payments that go in and come out every month are pretty much the same, I maintain in my business account quite a big positive cash balance, which I guess with interest rates where they are is pretty good for the bank too."

"The truth is I've never received any money from any sources with any link to Russia."

"[These comments from Nigel Farage are not attributed to the Twitter video in the source] I have been given no explanation or recourse as to why this is happening to me. This is serious political persecution at the very highest level of our system. The establishment are trying to force me out of the UK by closing my bank accounts. It has certainly made me think — what does this mean for me [...] No one has told me why and the only thing I can think of are the completely false claims made against me using parliamentary privilege."

"I did 23 nights in that jungle. And it changed me. I've come out a completely different person [...] Because I am not afraid of anything now."

"[D]o I want to be an MP? Do I want to spend every Friday for the next five years in Clacton?"

"I think if you ask Tory party members right now they'd vote for me to be leader and not Rishi Sunak."

"The banking sector, now full of idiots, people are promoted not because of ability, but ethnicity or gender ... The white male – you lot – are going to feel the world's against you. Andrew Tate tapped into that. You're going to feel the world's against you, you're going to feel resentful and angry ... These are massive cultural battles."

"There is no Conservative party, it does not exist. Oh, their members are conservative and patriotic, their voters are conservative and patriotic. Their parliamentary party is not. We have Jacob Rees-Mogg. There are others – like Liz Truss and Mark Francois – who have views similar to me. They are a tiny minority."

"[Could he end up leading the main parliamentary opposition within five years?] It's possible. It never was before, but it's possible now."

"The most poisonous thing that ever happened to Ukip was getting lots of former Tory MPs to join the party and bringing with them their way of doing politics, which is constant warfare and back-stabbing."

"The Prime Minister has campaigned so woefully that I believe that we are now approaching a tipping point as voters realise that the general election is effectively over. Labour has won. The Conservatives will be in opposition, but not the Opposition. In their place, Reform UK now intends to be that voice of opposition in parliament and the country."

"I can only apologise that not all of our candidates have been to Eton, to Oxford, not all of our candidates are part of the London set."

"Have we had trouble with one or two candidates? Yes, we have. We paid a large sum of money to a well-known vetting company, and they didn't do the work. We have been stitched up politically, and that's given us problems. And I accept that and I'm sorry for that."

"The race thing is even worse. The idea we should give people jobs according to how suntanned they are, the colour of their skin."

"A guy who's my producer at GB News is half Indian. I'm darker than he is!"

"I don't want racism or sectarianism in my party and we will be sorting out candidate selection [...] We do not want to have this problem again. If we had got 25 we wouldn't have been entirely sure who or what we got. But we have five very solid, sensible people who will be able to really push on and make the case for Reform. There will be no embarrassments and we have the foothold we needed."

"We absolutely endorse (Sir Lindsay) entirely for this job. And it is, I must say, in marked contrast to the little man that was there before you and besmirched the office so dreadfully in doing his best to overturn the biggest democratic result in the history of the country. We support you Sir, fully."

"Well, I may not necessarily be the best advocate for [monogamous] heterosexuality and or stable marriage, having been divorced twice. But do I think family matters."

"[Reasoning why he had returned to the role of party leader] And I came up with three words: "family, community and country". They're the things that matter to me about absolutely everything. I have tried, in difficult circumstances, to make sure with both ex-wives that our children have had a stable upbringing, given the circumstances, as they can possibly have."

"Of course we need higher birth rates, but we're not going to get higher birth rates in this country until we can get some sense of optimism."

"Suddenly, here in America – after November 5 – there’s optimism, there's an upbeat mood, the beginning of a golden age. And it's all because of one totally extraordinary individual."

"[The Establishment] put Donald J. Trump through: years of endless court cases, media abuse, harassment of his family, debanking by financial institutions, and assassination attempts. Yet he has come through it all braver, stronger, and wiser. In my experience, he is simply the bravest man I know. We should all applaud him."

"At the time I was alleged to have made these remarks, one of your most popular weekly shows was the Black and White Minstrel Show. The BBC was very happy to use blackface - not just in the Black and White Minstrels, they did it in It Ain't Half Hot Mum."

"I cannot put up with the double standards of the BBC about what I'm alleged to have said 49 years ago and what you were putting out on mainstream content. So I want an apology from the BBC for virtually everything you did throughout the 1970s and 80s."

"Now all that's left of Hope and Glory is Brexit champion Nigel Farage’s Union Jack socks and the certainty that the Queen is the last person who still knows how to behave in public."

"This is all good news for Farage, who has capitalized on the boredom most Brits feel with the one-story news-cycle and formed his own Brexit Party to charge off the cliff."

"One of the most stupid adages for politicians to believe is my enemy's enemy is my friend. Putin closes down the free press, jails journalists with impunity and has enriched himself beyond the dreams of Imelda Marcos and has territorial ambitions. Farage is rapidly becoming the Berlusconi of Britain."

"Nigel Farage is still trying to whip up fear and hatred towards refugees who are fleeing from conflict. It was extremely ill-judged of him to describe himself as a victim."

"Another colleague, who teaches the boy, described his publicly professed racist and neo-fascist views; and he cited a particular incident in which Farage was so offensive to a boy in his set, that he had to be removed from the lesson. This master stated his view that this behaviour was precisely why the boy should not be made a prefect. Yet another colleague described how, at a Combined Cadet Force (CCF) camp organised by the college, Farage and others had marched through a quiet Sussex village very late at night shouting Hitler-youth songs."

"[Published on the Sunday following the 2015 general election results] In a typically graceless gesture, he swept out before the speeches had finished on the pretext that another candidate had not played fair, but as far as I can see, neither did Farage, really, ever. For someone who arrived in politics claiming to be a good bloke, a man of the people, Farage led a strangely vicious, backstabbing, angry and unpleasant campaign, finally going so far as to report me to the Kent police for a "blatant" breach of electoral law (what?) after I joked on Have I Got News for You that I had spent more time in the constituency than he had. The comment supposedly broke the law because it misrepresented his campaign — a claim so ridiculous the police rejected the matter before Ukip had put the phone down (this is also a joke and not to be taken literally). But it was the first hint Farage really had lost it."

"This is not to suggest that there is really such a thing as Faragism. There is just Powellism warmed up. Farage's gift was to refashion Enoch Powell's rather extraterrestrial persona as down-to-earth bluff English blokeishness. Undoubtedly, however, this was a repackaging of old content: Powell’s twin hatreds of immigrants and the EU. Powell visited Dulwich College in 1982, when Farage was in his final year there. The young man was spellbound. As he later recalled, Powell "dazzled me for once into awestruck silence". A decade later, when the founder of UKIP, Alan Sked, was contesting a byelection in Berkshire, it was Farage, as a volunteer, who had the privilege of driving Powell to a rally. This was one of Powell’s last public speeches and one of Farage’s first party political acts. Though it would not have seemed so at the time, it feels in retrospect like a neat moment of apostolic succession. Farage, more than anyone else, reanimated Powell’s undead spirit."

"He has been known far longer to the RT audience than most of the British electorate."

"Many people would like to see Nigel Farage represent Great Britain as their Ambassador to the United States. He would do a great job!"

"The only winners from a Brexit would be Nigel Farage and Vladimir Putin; who would relish a divided Europe."

"Farage, who earns his living as a City commodity-broker, is a man who often used words such as `nigger' and 'nig-nog' in the pub after committee meetings."

"Before Brexit we didn't have a small boats problem because we had 27 return agreements with European Union countries and we could return people. But thanks to Nigel Farage, Boris Johnson and the Conservatives, we tore up those agreements when we left the European Union, and now we have this problem. I hope when he's on your programme you'll ask him to apologise."

"Nigel is a fiercely independent individual and is extremely good at what we have done so far. He has got messianic qualities. Will those messianic qualities distill into sage leadership? I don't know."

"We [Reform UK] have to change from being a protest party led by the Messiah into being a properly structured party with a frontbench, which we don't have. We have to start behaving as if we are leading and not merely protesting."

"Nigel Farage made a terrific speech in Clacton. In four weeks and three days, he had managed to convince more than 4 million people to vote Reform (only five measly seats, but what a triumph) and in the teeth of media hostility, too. Imagine what he can do in four-and-a-half years as a "bloody nuisance" in the Commons. (Who would dare rule out for him the two initials of MP being reversed in 2029?)"

"I want to deal with women's issues [...] because I just don't think they clean behind the fridge enough."

"I am here to represent Yorkshire women, who always have dinner on the table when you get home."

"No self-respecting small businessman with a brain in the right place would ever employ a lady of child-bearing age."

"Terrified young women beaten into prostitution often from Eastern Europe ... is only a very small aspect of the flesh trade."

"I am always deeply suspicious of received wisdom. [...] As far as I am concerned man-made global warming is nothing more than a hypothesis that hasn't got any basis in fact. Every day more scientists are modifying their initial views. Recently 60 German scientists wrote to Chancellor Angela Merkel saying there was no proof for carbon causing global warming."

"What a racist comment. How dare you? That's an appalling thing to say. You're picking people out for the colour of your skin? You disgust me."

"[From a video of a meeting at Wordsley, near Stourbridge in July 2013] How we can possibly be giving a billion pounds a month when we're in this sort of debt to bongo bongo land is completely beyond me. To buy Ray-Ban sunglasses, apartments in Paris, Ferraris and all the rest of it that goes with most of the foreign aid."

"You can torture people to death but you jolly well can't give them a full life sentence because that's against their human rights. We can't hang them because we're now a member of the European Union and it's embedded in the treaty of Rome. It's a personal thing but I'd hang the bastards myself. ... Especially for some of these, especially for the guy who hacked the soldier to death. I do hope they would ask me to throw the rope over the beam because I'd be delighted to do so."

"The trouble with Godfrey is that, he is not a racist, he's not an extremist or any of those things and he's not even anti-women, but he has a sort-of rather old fashioned territorial army sense of humour which does not translate very well in modern Britain. What he ought to have learnt is that time and time again he says things that overshadow the whole agenda that Ukip is fighting for. My opinion is Godfrey has gone beyond the pale."

"In the old days, they put idiots in the village stocks. Now we put them on the Today programme."

"The awful thing is, I find I feel sorry for him. ..."

"When you marry your mistress you automatically create a vacancy."

"I'm not a great believer in the see-through society."

"I think reporting in England is a load of filth, and that's why I'm going into the newspaper business there."

"[About Goldsmith's long absences owing to having three families] It was normal. I considered other people's families to be slightly odd. I certainly never resented it, because I get on so well with my brothers and sisters, from the youngest, who is 10, to the oldest who is 45.""

"There was a period, from 16 to 19, where we really hit the rocks in terms of our relationship. But even at the worst times, following a monumental row, you couldn't not respect him. I always saw in him - and I would have been a fool not to have seen in him - a greatness."

"He was a very odd character."

"I remember knocking on doors in Putney, asking people to vote for him. Some people loved him, other people thought he was the most terrifying creature they had ever heard of, and they thought he wanted to became a sort of dictator of the country. And you can understand that. He was a very exotic character. His family life was exotic. Everything he did was different. I have never met anyone like him and I shouldn't think I ever will meet anyone like him. So I am not surprised he had a rough time. He didn't mind that. He was sort of like a military commander. He was used to hostility."

"A tall, restless, nail-biting man, expensively dressed, he looked at least ten years older than forty - three. His face was tanned, his eyes steely blue. In repose, his expression was peculiarly dead. But his face would frequently crinkle into a smile and — which was disconcerting — from time to time he looked straight across at me, nodding and grinning, as if trying to convey a message of some kind."

"It is worth continuing the quest and develop now a new and common EU approach aimed at replacing the current conflicting forces of separatism and centralism by a federal and European concept of Bosnia and Herzegovina, truly embracing all three peoples, reinvigorating all its citizens and enabling an EU perspective for the country."

"We are deeply concerned about the situation in Russia with regards to human rights. There are several examples of this situation, such as the new law requiring NGOs to register as “foreign agents”, the law banning homosexual “propaganda”, problems with the rule of law and arbitrary judicial processes, and court rulings against the opposition."

"There is an alarming increase of violence and harassment against gay people, something that is being legitimized by the regime as they brand homosexuality as something abnormal and dangerous to children."

"I do not take my mandate from the European people."

"Often, when thinking about Socrates (or about Plato’s depiction of Socrates), we need to remember that he is reacting to the Presocratics, but the reverse is never true."

"If we are to understand what is going on in Empedocles’s writings, we need to think about the philosophical motives that drive him, and we need to make use of the bits of text we already had before the papyrus turned up."

"Besides the ‘how many?’ question, Empedocles seems to be answering two other ancient questions: ‘How did the world come to be as it now is?’ and ‘How did it come to have the creatures that it now has?’. [...] His answers are subtle and intricate."

"Philosophy asks for a reason, not just a scientific fact."

"So, with due thanks to those great heroes, the ancient authorities, we can now move on with a more cheerful heart to the rest of Presocratic philosophy. Many of the Presocratics’ words are lost, but we may still catch a glimpse of their strange forgotten worlds, woven into a splendid patchwork of ancient quotations and interpretations."

"Many aspects of Parmenides’s thought remain puzzling even when we have collected all the scraps of evidence from his own writings and those of later thinkers who discussed his views. But his immense significance in philosophical terms has never been obscured by the difficulties in the nitty-gritty of interpretation. For one thing, it is obvious that Parmenides throws at us the challenge of whether we should trust our reason or our senses, in circumstances when they seem to conflict."

"Parmenides did for science what Plato would later do for morality and aesthetics as well: he alerts us to the fact that opinions are just opinions, and they may differ widely. There may yet be a single truth, which need not be as anyone thought. To search for knowledge is to search for access to the truth, not to collect other people’s opinions, and philosophy conducts its unrelenting search for truth in the steps of Parmenides, by respecting sound and rigorous logical argument rather than the variegated tapestry of unexamined opinions."

"Whether or not Zeno was merely trying to defend Parmenides from the ridicule of others, there is no doubt that he has pushed the analysis of reality onto a new plane. He makes us think not just about objects in space, but about space as a structure within which they exist; about motion not just as the behaviour of physical bodies, but as a theoretical concept involving conceptual divisions in space and time; about number not just as a way of counting finite bodies but as a rational system potentially (or actually) continuing ad infinitum, with the problematic consequences that that might entail; about the notions of ‘before’ and ‘after’ in time, and how long the duration of the present is."

"By taking us on a cumulative sequence from our own familiar gods, through those of other ethnic groups, to those of animals, Xenophanes shows that our own images have no more authority than those of animals."

"Xenophanes might be saying that we have only superficial understanding, and we never get to knowledge of the clear truth."

"Even if Melissus’s analysis of the concept of existence is faulty, his procedure is very interesting. He challenges the data of sense experience by appealing to conceptual truths, facts about what a certain predicate (here ‘true’) must entail. These facts seem to escape the need to appeal to sense experience. We check up what is true about being true by examining our notion of being true, not by checking any things in the external world. So the argument seems to find a way of challenging the value of sense experience without begging the question. Melissus casts doubt on the senses by privileging the logical grammar of the word ‘true’. But, we might ask, did we learn how to use the word ‘true’ without relying on the senses?"

"Both Democritus and Anaxagoras try to explain the puzzling behaviour of ordinary reality by appeal to a microscopic replica of reality, in which another set of tiny bodies or minute scraps of stuff move around and cause things to happen. As a way to overcome the difficulty of explaining changes in the world, this ultimately emerges as unsatisfying: if there were problems with explaining chemical and physical events as they appear to us, there will be the same problems with explaining the reactions between smaller and yet smaller bodies."

"Plato’s metaphysics grew out of that of Parmenides, together with a strong feel for Heraclitus’s account of the physical world as a world of incessant change. His ethics were deeply inspired by Socrates, but his views on the soul also pick up on motifs that emerge in Pythagoras."

"For Heraclitus, the logos is something that we need to learn to notice if we are to understand the true significance of the world. It manifests itself all around us but, Heraclitus suggests, only a few intelligent people ever realize what is going on."

"Perhaps Heraclitus lived before Parmenides, perhaps he lived after, perhaps he lived at the same time. Whichever way, his sayings cry out to be read in their own right, as a radically anti-materialist project unlike anything previously known. They bitterly resist the attempt to package them along with the pre-Parmenidean thinkers; they flourish in a situation in which we are able to juxtapose them with alternatives, such as Parmenides’s world view, for which they may indeed have been a foil."

"Philosophy has come to include, for us, a wide range of theoretical questions that typically look beyond what we can answer by experimental enquiries. While science asks how matter behaves, and tests its theories with observation, philosophy asks what matter is, or how observation can teach us anything. While mathematics asks what the sum of 2 and 7 is, philosophy asks what the number 2 is, and whether 2 plus 7 could ever make anything but 9."

"Much of the content of so-called Pythagorean teaching appears to be a mix of mystical gobble-de-gook and adulatory veneration of the genius of the founder."

"Sophistry is one of the methods by which politicians dress up their policies in alien clothing, to pass them off as more desirable than they really are. Spin doctors thrive best where ‘democracy’ is the slogan."

"As the Presocratic philosophers bow out and Plato arrives to direct the next drama in the series, the Sophists make an astounding final act. All singing, all dancing, they ask society to question its raison d’être, its political beliefs, its moral values, its religious beliefs, its educational system, its legal codes, and its codes of etiquette. They draw attention to the power of the media and ask us to consider whether, without the media, there would be any truth at all. The antagonism that they generate, as portrayed by the Socrates imagined in Plato’s dialogues, starts the ball rolling for some of the most exacting philosophical endeavours the world has ever seen."

"In the Protagoras Socrates persuades Protagoras that goodness is identical with pleasure. He advocates a form of hedonism. In the Gorgias, Callicles espouses hedonism and Socrates refutes him. Socrates gets Callicles to admit that, after all, some pleasures are not good. [...] So Socrates holds contradictory views on pleasure in the Protagoras and the Gorgias."

"Are these good reasons for worrying about the apparent contradiction? Should either make us feel the need of an explanation?"

"Plato not only permitted live philosophical enquiry to take place in the course of every reader’s every reading of the dialogue, by putting tempting and plausible views on trial, in a situation as near as possible to the open-minded exploratory give and take of dialectical debate with a real interlocutor. He also created a most fitting memorial to the real Socrates – the man himself, who lived and died for the idea that philosophy is best done in open-ended dialogue, and with your whole way of life at stake should you be refuted."

"As a right-winger and UKIP member, I believe in immigration. That sentence might sound slightly surprising coming from the General Secretary of a Party which is perceived by the media as anti-immigration. So let me explain. I reject uncontrolled immigration. I reject immigration beyond the ability of our country's infrastructure to cope. Recently, I’ve been listening to the Bruce Springsteen song "American Land". It starts off well enough, talking about people relocating to America as it grew and helping to build the country. That's the kind of immigration that I believe in. Those who believe that they can have a better life (in this case in the UK), who come over and are determined to see themselves as part of British culture and will put their heart and soul into improving this country for all of us. I'm talking about the kind of person who is proud to come to the United Kingdom and shows that pride at every opportunity. Such people are a real asset to the country. That's why I'm so angry at the 'left-wing' in British politics, which has consistently pursued an effective open-door immigration policy. Uncontrolled mass immigration doesn't provide any of those benefits, but instead creates huge cultural problems for us. Worse still, it creates resentment. In Sheffield, I see workers losing their jobs to immigrant workers. All that does is create resentment and fuels the kind of racism that we've painstakingly worked to get rid of from our nation."

"Brexit won't be easy, but it can be made to work for everyone. The first step in making Brexit a success is accepting it, and discussing the topic in a grown up and constructive manner. I'm sick of the constant nastiness and negativity; is there any wonder that people have such little trust in politicians when time is wasted on vicious personal attacks instead of trying to work together to get the best deal for everyone."

"The result was a historic achievement, the people have risen up against the establishment and said enough is enough. For the last 25 years UKIP and Nigel Farage have been leading the charge to get Britain out of the EU. We have been abused and ridiculed but we fought on regardless. UKIP will continue to go from strength to strength."

"Nationally the fight against the out of touch elite goes on. We have Boris Johnson calling for the government to hand out passports to illegal immigrants. We have Labour’s David Lammy asking MPs to reject the referendum result. We have Tories such as Dan Hannan MEP who is calling for the Brexit deal to include free movement. We have defeated the EU and now it’s time to rid Westminster of the establishment."

"Successive governments have refused to accept the threat posed to our society by Islamic fundamentalism and extremism and to take the necessary measures to meet it head-on. We should esteem our own values of freedom, free speech and liberal secular democracy and start defending them."

"Freedom cannot be expected to tolerate that which would destroy it. Fundamentalist and extremist Islam is incompatible with freedom and Western liberal democracy. The real issue for those wishing to remain free is not an argument about headdress but the threat posed to our freedoms and way of life by a minority of people and how the state chooses to deal with it - if indeed it has the courage to do so at all."

"Instead of asking the EU how we may leave we should have been explaining to them how we are going to leave."

"We are determined to protect our freedom of speech and the right to speak our minds without fear of the politically correct thought-police knocking on our doors."

"[Tommy Robinson is] entitled to speak at rallies organised by people who believe in democracy"

"The people of Wales voted to leave the European Union and return our United Kingdom to the status of an independent democracy."

"[Having described Tommy Robinson as a "high profile" figure who had been "persecuted by the state because of his views".] I think he's a good person to have on side, a lot of people respect his stand on things and his courage."

"If Parliament does not take Britain out of the European Union it will be the biggest constitutional crisis since the English Civil War. In 1642 the king put himself in opposition to parliament. Parliament won and the king lost his head."

"What we do know is that if we do not leave the EU it will mark the end of democracy in the UK."

"Tommy Robinson is not far-right... and does not have far-right views. He is someone who can give some information and research which is useful to me. We have always been a democratic, non-racist party. That has always been in our constitution and that is exactly the way we are going to keep it. It is very odd in this day and age when you get called far-right, when what you have spent the last 25 years trying to do is to return government to our own democratically elected Parliament."

"Mr Batten's obsession with Stephen Yaxley-Lennon (to use Tommy Robinson’s real name) and fixation with the issue of Islam makes Ukip unrecognisable to many of us. While Robinson may hold an appeal to some members of society who feel they are disenfranchised, I believe he is entirely unsuitable to be involved in any political party. The fact is that his entourage includes violent criminals and ex-BNP members. [...] Next to Robinson is a man called Daniel Thomas, a convicted armed kidnapper. There are other pretty unsavoury-looking characters dotted around the room. [...] And so, with a heavy heart, and after all my years of devotion to the party, I am leaving Ukip today."

"As a newly elected UKIP MEP, I had mixed feelings about my first visit to the European Parliament in Brussels. After all, I am visiting a parliament which I believe shouldn’t exist; however, I should, and will be there to act as the eyes and ears of the British people."

"Austerity may still be felt here in the North West but Brussels doesn’t even know the meaning of the word."

"Whilst ‘Remain’ campaigners are obviously disappointed in the result, most are taking it on the chin and yielding to the democratic process, forgoing the need to insult those who happen to have voted differently."

"As UKIP’s health spokesman at the last General Election, I can say with gladness that now we have voted to leave, our treasured NHS will now be safe from the clutches of the EU/US TTIP agreement that would have seen American drug and insurance companies elbow their way into our healthcare. I would have thought that the local Green Party would at least join me in celebrating on this issue."

"The EU cannot be a world player. It is trying to mould 28 distinctly different member countries together to form and enact policy, whilst also looking to bring in new countries whose views and politics will not necessarily be a natural fit to what we have today, to the detriment of sections of its citizenship. This makes the EU look and act weakly, a trait that has been seized upon by Putin for one, and which has now led to intentionally breaking international law. Far from guaranteeing peace as envisaged at the outset, the EU brings us, both politically and physically, closer to new conflicts, at home and abroad."

"We of the rank and file of the constituency parties say to the trade union movement that the Beveridge issue is as axiomatic to us as the Trade Disputes Act is to them. ... Jam yesterday and jam tomorrow, but never jam today."

"The poverty and unemployment which we came into existence to fight have been largely conquered."

"[W]e shall fight any legislation based on these proposals tooth and nail, line by line, and, however long it takes, we shall destroy the Bill."

"Finally to the channel tunnel. Personally I am relieved that Tony Crosland has decided we can't go ahead. This is not only anti-Common Market prejudice. It is a kind of earthy feeling that an island is an island and should not be violated. Certainly I am convinced that the building of a tunnel would do something profound to the national attitude – and not certainly for the better."

"They lured us into the Market with the mirage of the market miracle."

"This means a pension increase of 72p – a fair price for a bag of peanuts."

"Whenever you were with Barbara you felt plugged into a power station – she absolutely vibrated with energy. She had a great sense of humour and was just fun to be with – but there was nobody she did not have a row with. She had many with me and I look back on them with pleasure. Whatever she did she thought out and then when she had come to a conclusion she argued for it with passion and conviction."

"[Barbara Castle was] an extraordinary pioneer for women in politics. Barbara Castle was one of the dominating figures of the Labour movement of the last 50 years. She was courageous, determined, tireless and principled, she was never afraid to speak her mind or stand up for her beliefs. Britain has lost one of its great political figures and the Labour movement a great heroine."

"Barbara was a heroine of the Labour movement who brought in equal pay for women, and right up to her death was campaigning for the cause of justice for the elderly. She made a massive contribution to the 20th century and her achievements will never be forgotten."

"She was a wonderful fighter for socialism from her early days to the last. She gave her whole being to the Labour movement. Her last fight was for the pensioners and she helped to change that too."

"Her passion blazed and her courage held steady throughout her long life. [Her] dazzling charm and low cunning won and kept the admiration and affection of the Labour movement for nearly 60 years. She was fiery, funny, stylish and a socialist to her last breath."

"Barbara Castle was a woman of fire and conviction who was also elegant, attractive and consciously so. She had been shaped by the great depression, the war, and the determination of a post-war Labour government that the old class-ridden Britain must be transformed. She was an ideologue and a class warrior, but one committed to the poor and the unemployed, an icon of Old Labour. She was also considerate and brave."

"The best man in my Cabinet."

"I joined UKIP in 2003, when it was a party hardly anyone had heard of, but it was the start of an upward trend as we grew in importance and professionalism. In recent time I have watched the chaotic infighting and seen the growing frustration of members who feel their voices are once again being ignored as we embark on a new future for the United Kingdom. And it's this future I want to help shape by leading the party which had such a significant impact on the political scene in this country, under the leadership of Nigel Farage. My message is clear: I'm offering a real alternative to the other options of EDL-lite or diet Labour."

"I expect better from Catholic bishops. They need to understand that Ukip and the Catholic Church have so much in common. I cannot think of anyone who is a bishop or a priest who would not have the same values for people as we do."

"I am delighted to be named the first UKIP spokesman for Women and Equalities. These important issues need to be promoted without patronising tokenism, virtue-signalling and political correctness."

"Clear and decisive leadership is crucial and we shall deliver it. It is urgent that we work on projecting our party firmly and decisively with the purpose of securing our nation’s interests through Brexit and beyond."

"The result sends a clear message to the powers at Westminster that people have become completely disenfranchised with their politics, and that the politicians have become completely detached from the issues which really concern the working man and woman. I have always believed that Britain is big enough and strong enough to stand on its own two feet, and to truly thrive when freed from the shackles of EU bureaucracy. Now we have the opportunity to prove it. June 23 will go down in history as our Independence Day – and for me, it's very emotional."

"[T]he European Union is happy to suck money from member states like a giant leech, with absolutely no respect for how it is spent. Whenever more transparency is called for, they simply hide behind smoke and mirrors and fancy words, and completely ignore common sense. They show a total lack of respect to the citizens of the European Union."

"The problem with the EU is that it spends money like it is going out of fashion, when actually it’s the Euro which is going out of fashion right now, with so many countries now questioning its membership."

"I'm God's choice to lead the people of Finland."

"I can't remember the last time I was wrong."

"Can you die of being pissed off?"

"I lost because of the "mediagame"."

"Everyone has their own strengths. It just happens to be that in me, all these strengths are combined."

"Well, there must be the man in the house - and a mistress, too."

"They call me old, but I'm only 65-years old young man."

"I can not avoid my responsibility."

"I'm younger than Donald Trump."

"Three reasons why young people don't have to worry about their future: education, politics and me."

"I'm in opposition against to both the government and the opposition."

"(Concerning Antonio Di Pietro) He is the only true national leader, the authentic expression of civil society."

"Bruno Vespa is just like my grandfather, he has a distinctive feature of the Mussolini family: the line from his nostril to his mouth. Sooner or later he will come out."

"Hey Matteo, you're nosy, you wear an earring and you're jealous. Wash your mouth out before you speak. You're a beggar, so don't bother us!"

"(Referred to Luxuria) He dresses like a woman and thinks he can say whatever he wants. Better a fascist than a faggot!"

"Enough with sex and sexuality, everyone is as fluid as they want. You want to see me become fluid too?"

"Monica Cirinnà? Long live Cirinnà. She did well to display that sign saying “God, Country and Family”. But deep down it's true: life is “shit” because there are crazy constraints. In Italy, we are too conditioned. Cirinnà is a bit like the Emma Bonino of our times. If it weren't for Bonino, we women would still be under the thumb. With a noose around our necks. You've had enough, long live to Bonino, long live to Cirinnà."

"I am a Mussolini, but I believe in democracy."

"(Referring to Claude Juncker) Who is this Juncker guy?! He looks like a yoghurt to me!"

"I work with the people in the piazza, where there is reality. Here in Parliament, often there is a mystification of reality. They are not representatives of the people. They represent themselves and their own interests."

"If the situation is resolved, the Lega [Nord] will disappear."

"In life we all change: on the basis of our experiences, of things that happen. Talking to my kids, I understood that for [them], sexual orientation isn't even a topic: it's like putting on a dress that you can change, and nobody cares what it's like."

"My grandfather is the greatest of them all; I will continue to believe this all my life."

"Not only Gianfranco Fini, but the entire world, including the Vatican and the pope, should beg forgiveness of Israel."

"Once again Italy needs a strong man. With my grandfather, at least there was a stand, a sense of responsibility, common sense and a love for Italy which is no more."

"The National Alliance is no longer to the right, it is in the centre. There is a huge space in the society of the right for me to occupy. For the first time a woman is the leader of a political party [in Italy]."

"What does seeing a bit of music, a bit of Pride [Parade], a bit of freedom take away from you? Lock yourself up at home, take a Bible and read it."

"Why are they afraid of the young people who have discovered their country and their flag and the outstretched arm salute? This is not nostalgia but regrets for bygone days that have taught much about ideals and honesty and even about morality."

"Women in politics are too obedient. On the left they are really obedient, they don't believe in themselves. We are very, very few. And some of us don't want to go up against the leader of the party. But sometimes you have to say what you have to say. I don't like compromise. In politics you have to always choose a compromise and sometimes that I don't like."

"You are a bastard."

"It's not a question of right or left. Turncoats go where the power is."

"My grandfather had a plan, a strategy. He had to gain consensus. He was not a turncoat."

"I love Berlusconi. And I'll say it: I like Berlusconi. He's someone who greets you, listens to you, hears what you have to say. He creates a team. We don't do that here."

"Men... they're the same as always... they think that violence can solve problems. Make way for the women."

"I like journalists. Journalists are like confessors."

"Feltri is very clever. He has gold in his hands. He has gold in his hands. He has valid insights."

"Berlusconi loves [Mussolini] because she is so good at the spectacle of politics."

"Seventy years ago people used to die for this idea [communism] [...], in Turin the members of the Communist Party, during the Resistance, had to endure 8 hours of torture. Fascists] would pull your eyes out with teaspoons, they'd rip your nails out with tweezers. And you had to stay silent for eight hours, and only after that you were allowed to confess and give the names of your comrades, and that was a Party guideline, to ensure the comrades' flight in those eight hours. Those men and women died for this idea. And what's politics today? They must be rolling in their own grave, can't you see that?"

"Against the obvious dictatorship of the globalist bourgeoisie we have to develop the idea of a proletarian dictatorship, that nobody has to fear, since it's the only true democracy for the people."

"Nowadays he's depicted as a reciprocal of Hitler, his name serves the purpose of fighting communism. Yet just remembering him makes the bosses tremble. He built the first socialist state and without him nazism would have won. His Russian name is translated as "steel". Stalin, terror of the fascists and of the false communists. Honor and glory to you!"

"Berlinguer was an honest person, but that's not enough to be a communist."

"He [Fidel Castro] is the idea that never dies . The ones that are criticising him in a few years will not even be on Wikipedia anymore. Fidel and the cuban revolution are History."

"They're building armoured skyscrapers in New York, every flat costs 100 billions euros. We're going towards a new middle-age: there'll be fortresses with rich chinese, russians, indians, arabians, americans inside, while the rest of the world will live in a new dark age."

"A historical and ideological fact that I consider almost a "proof" of loyalty in the bolshevism ideals: the matter of Stalin. Distrust those who disparage or even forget the figure of the continuer of Lenin's work, who was able to build socialism in the USSR and defeat the Nazi beast."

"They told us that after 1989, with the fall of the Berlin Wall, and 1991, with the hauling down of the red flag from the Kremlin, the "end of history" had come, that capitalism had won and that it was the only possible path to follow. We have seen in this 20 years that it isn't so."

"Greta is built in a laboratory! She has the proper face, the proper pigtails, the proper illness, she is properly little... She and all her family settled down forever, but it is evident that they are used. After two days she shook hands with miss Christine Lagarde, who leads the IMF. She is pure laboratory creation."

"Fascism is used by the bourgeoisie when the latter consider itself no longer able to fight off the peril of a socialist revolution. Fascism is, therefore, organic to the logics of capitalism and represents a more authoritarian handling that bosses temporary use, when necessary, in order to maintain their rule."

"Gualtieri is just a mere political enforcer of the will of banks and big finance. Direct expression of the economic powers that supported his appointment, he is the representative of the most hostile elements to the workers, their interests and their aspirations."

"Nuclear weapons are obsolete in an era of asymmetric warfare and cyber warfare and have no placed in a European defence policy for the 21st century. Britain and France have ignored their obligations under the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons for far too long."

"UKIP have now crossed a line in terms of what is acceptable behaviour in a democratic society."

"The crucial thing about the transition to a carbon-neutral economy is social justice. If you think about why people voted for Brexit, it’s because they felt they were being left behind. Their resentment is being attached to climate denialism, by very irresponsible politicians who whip up resentment caused by austerity. They connect that and say ‘Now you’re telling me I can’t have my car’. But that’s not what we’re saying at all."

"Although President Trump operates like an authoritarian leader, he is actually subject to a system of checks and balances, meaning that Congress, rather than Trump, will decide what sort of trade deal we will have with the US if we proceed with Brexit."

"The stakes couldn’t be higher. The burning of the Amazon places the planet on red alert. Bolsonaro is encouraging this torching of the forest to appease his agricultural paymasters so they can use the land for beef cattle and soya. He is guilty of ecocide and politicians across the globe must stand up to this environmental criminal."

"The mob currently in power are determined to crash us out of the EU on October 31 and will sacrifice everything at the altar of new trade deals. Food safety standards, consumer protections, animal welfare standards will all be ditched if it means securing a trade deal with the US. This will leave our farmers concerned not so much with tackling our climate emergency but with survival against an onslaught from cheap imports."

"You should not be able to be thrown out of your home of 30 years because you can’t find documents you never knew you would have to keep"

"Now is not the time to campaign to rejoin but we must keep the dream alive, especially for young people who are overwhelmingly pro-European. I hold in my heart the knowledge that one day I will be back in this [the European Parliament] chamber, celebrating our return to the heart of Europe."

"So, Mr Barroso, the most important conclusion of today has to be the message that you gave. You gave it here, very well and to much applause, but now you have to repeat it in another place, somewhere in Brussels, at the Council. I am no longer there, but I am sure we will know what you say there. You will have to repeat it there, telling them that the intergovernmental method is a bad method that cannot work. And why can it not work? Because it needs unanimity; the Polish know about that, as Poland disappeared in the 18th century because of the unanimity rule in the Polish Parliament: that is history and reality. The same could happen in Europe if we continue with this unanimity rule. We have to abolish it. Colleagues, this is the real problem. Why is there such a problem in this crisis? Because the Member States are reluctant to transfer new sovereignty and powers to the European Union. We all know that the only way out of this crisis is a new transfer of powers to the European Union and to the European institutions. That is at stake."

"[Brexit] is stupidity for a country with 53 percent of its exports going to the Continent and to the rest of Europe. It’s even so stupid that Britain’s best friends, the U.S., don’t understand it all."

"The only winners from a Brexit would be Nigel Farage and Vladimir Putin; who would relish a divided Europe."

"I know that within the Tory party the hard Brexiteers are compared to the leaders of the French revolution. I think Gove is Brissot, and Boris Johnson is Danton, and Rees-Mogg is compared to Robespierre. We should not forget that the efforts of these men were not appreciated by the common man they claimed to represent – because they all ended up on the guillotine. So that’s important to remind [them]."

"There is only one pro-European party in Britain and it is the Lib Dems."

"I think there will be huge support for Remain – that’s very clear. We’re going to see it... I’m pretty sure that there will be great support and certainly for the most pro-European party: the Lib Dems."

"If the UK doesn’t pay what is due, the EU will not negotiate a trade deal."

"I wanted to be sure that there would be no automatic deportation for people after that period because it can be people who are very vulnerable"

"It is sad to see a country leaving that twice liberated us, [that has] twice given its blood to liberate Europe"

"There is a historic battle going on across the west, in Europe, America, and elsewhere. It is globalism against populism. And you may loathe populism, but I’ll tell you a funny thing. It is becoming very popular! And it has great benefits. No more financial contributions, no more European Courts of Justice. No more European Common Fisheries Policy, no more being talked down to. No more being bullied, no more Guy Verhofstadt! What’s not to like. I know you’re going to miss us, I know you want to ban our national flags, but we’re going to wave you goodbye, and we’ll look forward in the future to working with you as a sovereign nation… [Farage is cut off by the chair]"

"I choose to change things from within. That is probably more difficult, it is longer and more complicated but it is a more concrete solution. To work from within to change monetary, financial, agricultural, commercial, industrial policies. We are growing, and we are allying with other European countries to change the E.U. from within. If we leave, it would be the end of hope."

"Anybody who says that power isn’t attractive is telling you a lie. Of course it is. It’s obviously a drug. It’s attractive. It’s something you thrive on. It suits some people. It doesn’t suit others. I think it suits me."

"I don’t judge people. Everyone’s entitled to their own religion. I respect religion. I respect people’s views. I’m not a fan of crossing over religion and politics. My mother is devoutly religious and I respect her for that. Am I a practising Catholic? I am, I suppose, to some point. There’s some very good things about all kinds of religion. Obviously, there’s loads of bad things: we’ve a lot of legacy issues in this country from religion and that needs to be dealt with. The whole sense of community that comes from Church-going is a great thing."

"Do I believe that prostitution should be legalised? No, I don’t. I think that it would open up other issues, which could be quite dangerous for society."

"It is nothing if not ironic that the man that the Labour Party will most likely chose to save the day in the face of the relentless and inexorable electoral onslaught of Sinn Féin is someone who delights in his own nomme de guerre, AK47. Alan Kelly not only likes his soubriquet but relishes in his characterisation of someone who shoots from the hip, takes no prisoners and gets things done."

"The Labour leader may have mellowed with age but the TD once dubbed AK47 still has targets."

"My party has a vision and ideas for this society and people are free to join them. We have also become a very broad party. I refuse to accept that we have only a little discontent to offer. Vlaams Belang is a coherent body of visions of how society should be. And we have solutions for it too."

"But it is true that many people are dissatisfied and that is because there is something profoundly wrong with our society. Freedom and respect for cultural identity, these are themes that need to be translated politically. People now see that the health system is being abused to limit our freedom. We are developing a society in which many people no longer feel served by politics. It is our democratic right to act on that and tell those people that our program can help them escape that discontent."

"Vlaams Belang has become a large party, and that is part of the game of democracy. If policymakers want to know how to organize democracy, then one has to listen to what the voter says and asks about it. Now we notice that people are actually doing the opposite. The vote of the voter is ignored for the sake of preserving power. The federal government does not have a majority in Flanders. Democracy is thus neutralized, not only through the cordon sanitaire, but also through the formation of a Vivaldi government. In such a case, Vlaams Belang should not wonder whether it will become a people's party. No, we are the only resistance."

"In the EU people think that everything revolves around money."

"Sadly, the first years of our independence were marred by war. Today, that war is far behind us, but the tragic experience of it has helped us to better grasp the full importance of peace and the values defended by the Council of Europe."

"I think we can all agree that China’s economic weight and growth is very important in helping the forward momentum of the global economy."

"A comparably small country in size and population, but big in human potential and appetite for innovations, Croatia is the cradle of some universally known and daily used inventions."

"A few points on the issues of climate change, renewable energy, and the protection of nature. You are right. We are lucky to have such a place in Europe, with all the benefits of being on the Adriatic and the Danube, being a country which is really rich in water and natural resources, but we are also aware of our energy needs. So we are looking at the ecological aspects of every single project in a very detailed manner in dialogue with local communities and in dialogue with the NGOs looking at various projects and various items."

"Croatia has no ambition to stall or make more difficult our neighbours’ path to the EU. On the contrary, we have been very much a bridge, an influencing country that has unselfishly offered all the experience which is most recent, and thus most relevant for their path to the European Union – trying to address the questions that were mentioned by some of the Members."

"The unprecedented circumstances we live in represent a unique opportunity for us to rethink the global role of multilateralism and strengthen the importance of orderly globalization and a rules-based international order."

"One of the effects of globalization is that the world is faced with an unprecedented number of people on the move. Refugee crises and mass migration are a reality. One in 30 people around the world is a migrant. Croatia has faced acute refugee and migrant crises in the past. The approach we took — and will always take — was one that put people first."

"I also regret that we haven't done more about tolerance in Croatian society and inclusiveness."

"Immunity is greatly weakened by always remaining in a sterile environment. Even if you eat immunity-boosting foods, regularly leave your house for any park or beach. Immunity is increased by exposure to pathogens, not by staying home and consuming fried, spicy or sweetened foods and carbonated beverages, and not engaging in physical activity."

"There's no doubt about it, we're living in times where…the lives of innocent civilians are sacrificed in the wars of their masters. Yes in Ukraine, but not only. Since the last plenary tens of thousands of Afghani citizens have been forced to flee in search of food and safety, five million children face famine, an agonizing and painful death, a five hundred percent increase in child marriages and children being sold just so they can survive, and not a mention of it, not here, not anywhere, no wall-to-wall TV coverage, no emergency humanitarian response, no special plenaries, not even a mention in this plenary, no Afghani delegations and no statements. My God, they must be wondering what makes their humanitarian crisis so unimportant. Is it the color of their skin, is it that they’re not white? They're not European? That their problems come from a U.S. gun or a U.S. invasion? Is it that the decision to rob their country's wealth was taken by a despotic U.S. president rather than a Russian one? Because my God, all wars are evil, and all victims deserve support and until we get on that page, we have no credibility whatsoever."

"Our point of view is if people from Ukraine or anywhere else want to join the European Union, and that’s a free choice decided by the majority, and it's done on terms that don't bankrupt its populations, well, then that's a matter for them. Of course, that's not what's on the table at the moment. The vote is being used to ratchet up the tension with Russia. Many people in Ukraine are fighting to defend their country, and that's actually legitimate in many ways. But I highly doubt that any of them are fighting or dying for European values – in a sense, because it is not stopping the war, Europe is forcing them to die. The president of Zambia came in … and he criticized the war. He said we should be for peace. He spoke about food insecurity in Africa and the global consequences of this war. He obviously was sympathetic with the victims in Ukraine, and said that we need to work together as an international community to end the war and to have a negotiated peace. Yet the overwhelming majority, like 95% of the Parliament, sat on its hands and did not applaud that sentiment. These are warmongers. And the tone in the European Parliament, being led mainly by the Baltics, is that they want the war to continue. They're deluded. Anybody who argues for peace is being accused of appeasing Russia, of being a Putin puppet, when in actual fact the continuation of the war is killing and damaging Ukrainians more than anyone else. So it's utter lunacy."

"The simple answer is this war will end when the US wants it to end. You might have thought that Europe, because it's engaging in a sort of a collective suicide, at least economically, with this war, might be pushing for it to end. Right now there’s a whole wave of strikes all across Europe, which will only escalate the longer the war continues on. I think turmoil in the Global South has to be a cause for concern for all of these actors. I suppose Italy, France and Germany have been less warmongering than the others, and are getting enormous abuse for that, by the way, by their European friends. You'd hope that maybe they could take the lead."

"At this precise moment, of course, as usual, the voices challenging the rush to war are attacked and silenced, smeared as traitors, cronies, Putin puppets, Kremlin stooges, Russian agents. Frankly, it's pathetic, And I don't make the comparison lightly, but the crudeness and cynicism of these slurs coming from mainstream E.U. parties might as well have been written by [Nazi war criminal] Hermann Goring, who infamously said that even though people never want war, they can be brought to war with threats and smears. This house should be ashamed of this debate. Words are being twisted, meanings subverted, and the truth turned on its head. Opposing the horrible madness of war is not anti-European, it's not anti-Ukrainian, it's not pro-Russian: it's common sense. The working class of Europe has nothing to gain from this war and everything to lose. And I find it laughable that those calling for arms to Ukraine never call for arms for the people of Palestine, or for the people of Yemen. Unlike you, I oppose all war. I want it stopped. I make no apology for that."

"State sponsorship of terrorism is a term of US law. It doesn’t exist in EU law, but a Zelensky advisor called for it in the Parliament... And here we are again reporting for duty. And all it will do is make peace harder to achieve. Exactly, of course, what the extremists want. No peace. No off ramps, all bridges burning and Ukraine a permanent abattoir in a suicidal holy crusade against Russia. So, if you want to start naming state sponsors of terrorism, let's do it. European sponsorship of Israeli terrorism in Palestine, Western sponsorship of Saudi terror in Yemen, ISIS, the product of French, American, British, Turkish and Gulf sponsorship in Syria and Iraq, decades of right-wing US-backed terrorism against the Cuban Revolution. The Contras in Nicaragua, death squads in Guatemala, in El Salvador. Remember Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, horror after horror, terror after terror. There's nothing constructive about the pot calling the kettle black, would ye ever cop on, start championing peace, an end to the war which is patently in the interests of the EU, Ukrainian, and Russian citizens."

"You had no interest in talking to me for five years, so I've no interest in talking to you."

"Reality star George Galloway has dubbed Irish MEP Clare Daly a "Joan of Arc who has come back to walk among us" for her take on the war in Ukraine. The ex-MP called the politician "crusading" for speaking "so powerfully the walls of the European Parliament shake." Big Brother star George played a clip of Clare Daly addressing the European Parliament on his online talk show The Mother of All Talk Shows."

"I am pleased to see positive trends in all segments, in trade, investment, tourism and services (between Slovenia and Serbia). The current circumstances due to the energy crisis also open up new opportunities for investment in the renewables and energy."

"Berlusconi hired Mangano, I introduced him to him, it's very true, among so many people who were in competition for that position, and to whom Berlusconi even entrusted the house, and Mr. Mangano also accompanied Berlusconi's children to school. I don't see anything strange in the fact that I dated Mr. Mangano in this way, and I would still date him now."

"Luttazzi is a jerk."

"I have a very good relationship with Casini. I don't hide the affection I have for Pier Ferdinando. I like the extraordinary sympathy of him. He is a pleasant person: I love him. I am grateful to Casini. After the Palermo court ruling (actually it was before, ed.) he exposed himself as president of the Chamber by expressing solidarity in a spontaneous, sincere, disinterested way."

"In Forza Italia the only one in charge is Berlusconi. There is no hierarchy. There are no hierarchs."

"Silvio Berlusconi entered politics to defend his companies."

"[About Pietro Grasso ] He is balanced, a statesman. He knows who I am. [...] Grasso is a good person, I am happy for his election as President of the Senate. [...] He is not a fanatical magistrate like Ingroia."

"[About w:en:Pietro Grasso:Pietro Grasso ] Grasso, when he was young, played soccer on my team, Bacigalupo, and he was famous because he always came out of the field clean at the end of the game: even when there was mud, he always managed not to splash himself."

"Spatuzza? Someone like that, Falcone would have turned him in."

"Charles Tannock, Vice-President of the Human Rights subcommittee of the European Parliament, had written in a 2005 editorial that, “The world cannot afford a second Afghanistan in Bangladesh, where Huji (Harakat-ul Mujahideen Bangladesh or HuJI-B -- Movement of Islamic Holy war/Bangladesh) members are believed to have given sanctuary to many Taliban fighters after the fall of their regime… All of Asia’s powers, including China and Japan, will have to play a part in stopping Bangladesh’s drift into fanaticism and chaos. The rest of the world should support them before it is too late.” Tannock pointed out that a massive rise in the number of madrasas (Islamic seminaries) “financed by Saudi and Gulf money — totaling roughly 64,000 and operating under the same fundamentalist Deobandi Islam that inspired the Taliban — is part of a clear effort to change Bangladesh’s culture of religious tolerance.” Tannock’s fear and assessment were both on target as 2006 saw an increase in violence and worsening condition in Bangladesh."

"The sign of our coherence in our relationship with Israel is it does not depend on the difference of the changing governments in Israel but it's stable position."

"If we can change the textile industry, then we can change everything."

"There are three little words, written at the bottom of every resolution, every report and every legislative position in this house. Three small words that connect us all. United in Diversity."

"Dear colleagues, we must earn and protect the trust of our citizens, by delivering on the biggest challenges people around Europe face today."

"Let us practice what we preach, by making sure our own institution is a front-runner in the green transition – for example, by adding solar panels on the twenty thousand square meters of flat roof available on our buildings here in Strasbourg."

"By exposing your brain to new impressions you are compelled to think new thoughts and be inspired by others."

"I was 10 years old the first time I picked up the phone, and a Nazi told me that I"

"The Master q:it:Aldo Masullo, to whom we recently conferred honorary citizenship of Naples, has left this earthly life. One of the greatest philosophers of the late 20th century, with the highest ethical standards and profound intellectual rigor, we remember his lucid political analyses right up until the last few days. A beacon for many, a solid point of reference for Neapolitan culture."

"Naples is a special city, and has been so throughout history. When the entire continent was experiencing periods of stagnation, Naples marked important accelerations in the world of culture. Its university, one of the oldest in Europe, was a point of reference when the rest of Europe was torn apart by internal wars. It is a city that never allowed the Holy Inquisition to act freely and unchallenged. It is a city that, under foreign and military occupation, liberated itself by autonomously surrendering to those who brought about the retreat of the Nazis in World War II."

"I hope that Ireland votes in favor so that the Lisbon Treaty can come into force and be a step forward for democracy in Europe, because the European Parliament will have more powers and greater importance, and it will not be the governments that are in charge but the people through their representatives in Parliament. In Ireland, Italian-Irish people also play a fundamental role."

"There is a new form of organized crime in Calabria, which is not only 'ndrangheta, which tends to manage public funds, those that have arrived, those that are arriving, and those that will arrive. This is the fundamental crux of the matter, because it is there that collusion between institutions, politics, business, and the banking system takes root, grows stronger, and increases."

"Once there were deviant services, a deviant judiciary, and even deviant journalists, but now the situation is being reversed. The few magistrates who conduct investigations, the few journalists who write, and the investigators who do their duty are the ones who are deviant."

"If half of the funds that arrived had been used, Calabria could have been a small Switzerland."

"I would lile to have a sort of European FBI."

"European consciousness is formed and passed on first and foremost in the classroom, and it is no coincidence that our young people are the most ardent supporters of Europe. I myself grew up surrounded by the example and reverence for the roots of European tradition, particularly thanks to my mother, who was a teacher of Greek and Latin. Europe is first and foremost a vision of life and of humanity. It is much more than a market or a currency [...] our civilisation has been forged through centuries of exchange, the blending of thought, the dialectic of ideas, art and science."

"We are fighting to ensure that the right to asylum is governed by the same rules across Europe. Every state must have the same list of high-risk countries, which is not the case today. Because some countries have one list, others another."

"A country where the opposition is imprisoned is not a democratic country. I am not afraid to say it, just as the Venezuelan students who are demonstrating are not afraid."

"Mussolini? Until he declared war on the whole world following Hitler, until he became the architect of the racial laws, apart from the tragic affair of Matteotti, he did positive things to build infrastructure in our country, and then the land reclamation projects. From the point of view of concrete achievements, one cannot say that he achieved nothing."

"[Regarding the Supreme Court judge who delivered the guilty verdict against Berlusconi] The words spoken by Dr Franco make it clear that there has been a veritable judicial coup against Berlusconi and against democracy in our country. Someone at the top steered the verdict and we would like to know who [...] by striking that man, it was not only the individual and his family who were struck, but all those who had freely chosen to vote for him."

"90 years ago, Ukraine was ravaged by a terrible famine caused by Stalin and the USSR [the Holodomor]. Italy remembers the millions who died, victims of genocide. Today, with the war, the spectre of those days returns. We will not abandon the Ukrainian people."

"We need more Europe in the Western Balkans; this is Italy’s new strategy. Stability is crucial for maintaining peace but also for combating illegal immigration. As NATO, we must protect all the countries of the Western Balkans and Ukraine’s neighbours: it is now important to work together because unity is the most important thing and sends a clear message to Russia that we are ready to protect these countries."

"Human rights must always be respected, everywhere in the world, even in China."

"For the Italian government [led by Giorgia Meloni], there are two guiding principles when it comes to foreign policy: transatlantic relations and Europe. We are a founding member; we want to play a leading role in building a path that unites all peoples to tackle major geopolitical challenges together."

"Having a common defence does not mean turning Europe into some sort of warmongering entity: it means having a Europe that plays a leading role in politics, a bearer of peace."

"We are in favour of Ukraine’s accession [to the European Union]... but we are also in favour of the accession of the Western Balkan countries that are candidates... otherwise we risk leaving peoples who nevertheless share a vision and tradition common to our own under the influence of other entities that do not share the same common ground."

"I insist on the need for a more democratic Europe [with] greater powers for the European Parliament... I say this not merely because"

"[The issue of migration must be addressed] not through the lens of the colonisers, but through the lens of the Africans."

"(About the release of Patrick Zaki) There is no bartering, there are no backroom deals. The government has managed to bring back to Italy a young researcher who risked spending a little more time in prison. We have managed to achieve this result, and I believe it is no small achievement. People can say whatever they like, but there is no bartering. We are serious people; we do not engage in such deals. (20 July 2023)."

"It was a grave mistake to have killed Gaddafi. He may not have been a champion of democracy, but once he was gone, instability spread throughout North Africa."

"[About the 2024 Russian presidential elections] [...] these elections were characterised by intense and even violent pressure. Navalny was effectively excluded from the elections through murder [...] There were no candidates opposing Putin. We saw footage of Russian soldiers entering polling stations to see how people were voting. So it does not strike me as an election that meets the standards we uphold. (18 March 2024)."

"Being Italian, being European, and being a patriot is not tied to seven generations, but to who you are. We must look at reality for what it is. I emphasise education, identity and culture because if you accept that you are European, in essence you are Italian and European not because your skin is white, yellow, red or green, but because you hold those convictions within you, because you live by those values within you, because you have that European spirit within you. Whether your parents were born in Kiev, La Paz or Dakar makes absolutely no difference."

"[Gaffe during a rally in Bari] We would have filled the San Paolo stadium too."

"Le infrastrutture sono fondamentali per garantire la sicurezza, come peraltro anche la sanità, ad esempio un ospedale specializzato nelle cure agli attacchi batteriologico e chimico. Io credo che il Ponte rappresenti, quando ci sarà, punto importante nel trasporto.[...] Quindi anche per l’evacuazione, per garantire la sicurezza in caso di un attacco da sud. Perché esiste anche il fianco sud della Nato."

"Oggi come sono stati i bombardamenti?."

"[To the Italian ambassador to Iran] How was the bombing today?"