People From London

"I know some people look at foreign companies investing in our businesses, financing our infrastructure or taking over our football clubs and ask – shouldn’t we do something to stop it? Well, let me tell you, the answer is “no.”"

"Already London is the biggest centre for Islamic finance outside the . But today our ambition is to go further still. Because I don’t just want London to be a great capital of Islamic finance in the Western world. I want London to stand alongside Dubai and Kuala Lumpur as one of the great capitals of Islamic finance anywhere in the world."

"It’s been a remarkable few years for our Royal family - the Royal Wedding captured people’s hearts, the extraordinary and magnificent Jubilee and now this Royal birth. All to a family that has given this nation so much incredible service and they can know that a proud nation is celebrating with them a very proud, happy couple tonight."

"It is an important moment in the life of our nation, and I suppose above all it is a wonderful moment for a warm and loving couple who have got a brand new baby boy."

"It’s wonderful news from St Mary’s Paddington, and I’m sure that right across the country, and indeed right across the Commonwealth, people will be celebrating and wishing the Royal couple well."

"I want to talk about the internet, the impact it is having on the innocence of our children, how online pornography is corroding childhood and how, in the darkest corners of the internet, there are things going on that are a direct danger to our children, and that must be stamped out."

"Referendum Bill passes first Commons stage, bringing us one step closer to giving the British people a say on Europe."

"If we left the European Union, it would be a one-way ticket, not a return"

"When we have negotiated that new settlement, we will give the British people a referendum with a very simple in-or-out choice to stay in the EU on these new terms; or come out altogether. It will be an in/out referendum."

"It is time for the British people to have their say. It is time to settle this European question in British politics. I say to the British people: this will be your decision."

"Democratic consent for the EU in Britain is now wafer thin... Simply asking the British people to carry on accepting a European settlement over which they have had little choice is a path to ensuring that when the question is finally put - and at some stage it will have to be - it is much more likely that the British people will reject the EU. That is why I am in favour of a referendum. I believe in confronting this issue - shaping it, leading the debate. Not simply hoping a difficult situation will go away."

"This coalition has a clear new year's resolution: to kill off the health and safety culture for good."

"I think some of these schemes - and I think particularly of the Jimmy Carr scheme - I have had time to read about and I just think this is completely wrong. People work hard, they pay their taxes, they save up to go to one of his shows. They buy the tickets. He is taking the money from those tickets and he, as far as I can see, is putting all of that into some very dodgy tax avoiding schemes. That is wrong. There is nothing wrong with people planning their tax affairs to invest in their pension and plan for their retirement - that sort of tax management is fine. But some of these schemes we have seen are quite frankly morally wrong. The Government is acting by looking at a general anti-avoidance law but we do need to make progress on this. It is not fair on hard working people who do the right thing and pay their taxes to see these sorts of scams taking place."

"I do not believe there is a binary choice for Britain that we can either sacrifice the national interest on issue after issue or lose our influence at the heart of Europe's negotiating process. I am absolutely clear that it is possible to be a both a full, committed and influential member of the EU but to stay out of arrangements where they do not protect our interests."

"Picture by picture, these criminals are being identified and arrested, and we will not let any phony concerns about human rights get in the way of the publication of these pictures and the arrest of these individuals."

"I think we should be helping the opposition groups because they want a democratic Libya, they want a future for that country."

"I am very sorry that Andy Coulson has decided to resign as my Director of Communications, although I understand that the continuing pressures on him and his family mean that he feels compelled to do so. Andy has told me that the focus on him was impeding his ability to do his job and was starting to prove a distraction for the Government. During his time working for me, Andy has carried out his role with complete professionalism. He has been a brilliant member of my team and has thrown himself at the job with skill and dedication. He can be extremely proud of the role he has played, including for the last eight months in Government. I wish Andy all the very best for his future, which I am certain will be a successful one."

"Too many people thought ‘I’ve paid my taxes, the state will look after everything’. But citizenship isn’t a transaction – in which you put your taxes in and get your services out. It’s a relationship – you’re part of something bigger than you, and it matters what you think and feel and do. So to get out of the mess we’re in, changing the government is not enough. We need to change the way we think about ourselves, and our role in society. Your country needs you."

"[I want to] pave the road [for Turkey to join the EU], the country is vital for our economy, vital for our security and vital for our diplomacy"

"I will remain your strongest possible advocate for EU membership and for greater influence at the top table of European diplomacy."

"Turkey is a secular and democratic state. This is all the more reason to make Turkey feel welcome in Europe... This is something I feel very strongly and very passionately about. Together I want us to pave the road from Ankara to Brussels."

"He [Nigel Farage] is currently trying to destroy the Conservative Party by standing for Reform. [...] I want to be as sure as we can that we get no Reform members of parliament and the Conservative Party can move forward."

"When you are PM you are doing so many things at once. It's nice to focus on one thing, even if that one thing is the whole world!"

"[On his appointment as foreign secretary] I said yes surprisingly quickly actually, because I wasn't expecting it at all."

"The Prime Minister has asked me to serve as his Foreign Secretary and I have gladly accepted. We are facing a daunting set of international challenges, including the war in Ukraine and the crisis in the Middle East. At this time of profound global change, it has rarely been more important for this country to stand by our allies, strengthen our partnerships and make sure our voice is heard. While I have been out of front-line politics for the last seven years, I hope that my experience – as Conservative Leader for eleven years and Prime Minister for six – will assist me in helping the Prime Minister to meet these vital challenges."

"Today’s decision on HS2 is the wrong one. It will help to fuel the views of those who argue that we can no longer think or act for the long term as a country; that we are heading in the wrong direction. [...] I regret this decision and in years to come I suspect many will look back at today’s announcement and wonder how this once-in-a-generation opportunity was lost."

"The thing about the greased piglet is that he manages to slip through other people’s hands where mere mortals fail"

"I hope [Theresa May] wins the vote tonight, I'm sure she will. I hope then that Parliament can come together and find an alternative partnership agreement with the European Union, that's the right way forward, that's what her deal was about last night and she has my support as she does this."

"[I regret the] difficulties and the problems we've been having trying to implement the [Brexit] result"

"Brexit turned out less badly than we first thought. [The Leave vote was] a mistake not a disaster."

"[A strong election victory would allow Theresa May to] stand up to people who want an extreme Brexit either here or in Brussels"

"The last thing I would say is that you can achieve a lot of things in politics and get a lot of things done; in the end, public service and the national interest is what it is all about. Nothing is really impossible if you put your mind to it. After all, as I once said, I was the future once."

"Thank you very much. Doo, doo, doo, doo. Right."

"while Britain is leaving the European Union, it will not, it should not and in my view it won't turn its back on Europe"

"It might be in my party's interest for him to sit there, it's not in the national interest and I would say, for heaven's sake man, go."

"Britain is a special country. We have so many great advantages: a Parliamentary democracy where we resolve great issues about our future through peaceful debate; a great trading nation, with our science and arts, our engineering and our creativity, respected the world over. And while we are not perfect, I do believe we can be a model for the multi-racial, multi-faith democracy, where people can come and make a contribution and rise to the very highest that their talent allows."

"I will do everything I can as Prime Minister to steady the ship over the coming weeks and months but I do not think it would be right for me to try to be the captain that steers our country to its next destination."

"I have also always believed that we have to confront big decisions, not duck them. That is why we delivered the first coalition government in 70 years, to bring our economy back from the brink."

"The British people have voted to leave the European Union and their will must be respected"

"[leaving the EU and the single market is] not the right way to control immigration"

"It is deeply concerning that the Leave campaign is criticising the independent Bank of England. We should listen to experts when they warn us of the dangers to our economy of leaving the European Union."

"If we restrict our access [to the single market] we will be less well off and that obviously affects what we can spend on our public services,"

"our economy would be smaller [if the UK left the single market]"

"The right thing to do is to fight for a great Britain in the EU and not take the Little England option of Nigel Farage"

"An EU exit would put a bomb under our economy"

"Nine out of 10 economists say there'll be a profound shock if we leave the EU. That means there will be less money - not more. It's also why so many doctors and nurses support remaining in the EU."

"isolationism has never served this country well"

"You shouldn't try to hold an independent sovereign nation in an organisation against its will."

"Above all we are obstinately practical, rigorously down-to-earth, natural debunkers. We approach issues with a cast of mind rooted in common sense, we're rightly suspicious of ideology and sceptical of grand schemes and grandiose promises."

"If there is one constant in the ebb and flow of our island story, it is the character of the British people."