People From London

"I don’t think there are big issues on which I’ve changed my mind. The big issue we were grappling with then was how the Labour Party, or the left generally, bound together the wider movement and its strands of equality – feminist politics, green politics, LGBT – which I thought was incredibly exciting, incredibly important."

"We are absolutely clear we can not have a hard border we need to negotiate with our EU partners."

"What I think is really important is that the government aims high. My worry is that the government has attached so much importance to immigration that it's not even going to try to get the best access to the single market. In other words, it's going to give up before it starts. My sense is that the government is saying 'because we want to take such a hard line on immigration we are going to give up on parts of the argument that would be better for the economy'."

"Labour would seek a transitional deal that maintains the same basic terms that we currently enjoy with the EU. That means we would seek to remain in a customs union with the EU and within the single market during this period. It means we would abide by the common rules of both."

"The referendum is clear and has to be accepted and we can't have a re-run of the question that was put to the country earlier this year. But, and it's a big but, there has to be democratic grip of the process and, at the moment, what the prime minister's trying to do is to manoeuvre without any scrutiny in Parliament and that's why the terms on, which we're going to negotiate absolutely have to be put to a vote in the House."

"Today I want to set out what's at stake for Britain, because while politics is always about choices, the choice now is as stark as it gets. We face a battle for the soul of our country, who we are, who we're for, and the Labour choices of Britian is that it's greener, fairer, and more dynamic."

"I am sorry. Sorry for what was done to you, sorry that so many people with power failed you, sorry for having believed Mandelson’s lies and appointing him."

"Whilst he has been my political opponent, Sir Keir Starmer will shortly become our Prime Minister. In this job, his successes will be all our successes, and I wish him and his family well. Whatever our disagreements in this campaign, he is a decent, public-spirited man, who I respect. He and his family deserve the very best of our understanding, as they make the huge transition to their new lives behind this door, and as he grapples with this most demanding of jobs in an increasingly unstable world."

"We accept and respect the outcome of the referendum."

"The only mandate she's ever had was from members opposite. It was a mandate built on fantasy economics, and it ended in disaster. The country's got nothing to show for it except the destruction of the economy and the implosion of the Tory Party. I've got the list here: 45p tax cut, gone. Corporation tax cut, gone. 20p tax cut, gone. Two-year energy freeze, gone. Tax-free shopping, gone. Economic credibility, gone! And her supposed best friend the former chancellor, he's gone as well. They're all gone! So why is she still here?"

"Remaining in a form of customs union after a transition post-Brexit phase remained a possible end destination for the Labour party."

"Passover is also a fitting moment for me to acknowledge the pain and hurt that the Labour Party has caused Jewish people in recent years. Anti-Semitism has been a stain on our party. I have seen first-hand the unacceptable and unimaginable levels of grief and distress it has caused many in the Jewish community and beyond. It is why my very first act on becoming leader over the weekend was to apologise for the hurt that has been caused. I want to apologise again and reiterate my pledge to tear out this poison by its roots."

"[I ask] the question of the role the police should play, if any, in civil society. Who are they protecting and from what?"

"On 5 July, either Keir Starmer or I will be Prime Minister. He has shown time and time again that he will take the easy way out and do anything to get power. If he was happy to abandon all the promises he made to become Labour leader once he got the job, how can you know that he won't do exactly the same thing if he were to become Prime Minister? If you don't have the conviction to stick to anything you say, if you don't have the courage to tell people what you want to do, and if you don't have a plan, how can you possibly be trusted to lead our country, especially at this most uncertain of times?"

"We don't support trying to deliver regime change from the air"

"The only time he ran in a competitive election, he got trounced by the former prime minister, who herself got beaten by lettuce!"

"If you want a culture wars warrior, Starmer is not your man. If you want a radical socialist who seeks to overturn capitalism, Starmer is not your man. If you want an entertainer, a comedian, a tweeter, Starmer is not your man. If you want to rerun previous leaders, Wilson or Blair, or someone who runs an agile team firing on all cylinders, sorry, Starmer is not your man. But if you want a leader who might start to heal the sinews of an enfeebled state and anaemic economy, and who will work in the interests of the relatively powerless, then he may very well be who we need."

"Two-tier Keir"

"So that means fair rules, firm rules, a points-based system. What I would like to see is the numbers go down in some areas. I think we're recruiting too many people from overseas into, for example, the health service. But on the other hand, if we need high-skilled people in innovation in tech to set up factories etc, then I would encourage that."

"The worst mistake of political conservatives in the western world has been to refuse to understand and examine the length, breadth, depth, and height of the post-1968 left in Europe and North America. If you do not know what you are fighting, you will never find out why you are fighting, or how you should fight it. By becoming dull, and by speaking in code, the revolution has overwhelmed those who would have fought it with all their might if it had appeared in the guise of the Bolsheviks or the Jacobins."

"[H]e got into Leeds University where he was told by academics that if only the world was ruled by human rights, it would be just and peaceful and there'd be no war. So he really believes in all that. That was his formation. And then he becomes prime minister and has this terrible awareness that the world is not ruled by words and paper. There’s things like armies and war in Europe and Donald Trump got elected. This is all pretty shocking [to him]."

"Has Britain elected a bumbling nobody to the highest office in the land? Or does his dullness conceal a driving purpose?"

"I don't think [Boris Johnson] is in any way inhibited by normal propriety in government."

"Johnson likes, of course, to see himself in the mould of Sir Winston Churchill, but he should go off and read what that great man was doing between 1945 and '50. In that period, he realised the best hopes he had for the United Kingdom could only be achieved in cooperation with our European partners."

"Baseless innuendo does not contribute to serious debate."

"I think that now is exactly the wrong time to have a pause. What we have seen this week reinforces the need to make sure we have active communities trying to stop people becoming radicalised. I do recognise what Baroness Warsi said about needing to make more of an effort to sell [Prevent] to communities. We need to do better there to show that this is a safeguarding initiative, it's about protecting young people."

"Leaving the EU is harder than a lot of people thought it was going to be"

"Even when you spoke to Boris in person, you never knew who you’d be addressing but when he gets home and takes off the mask, which version remains? The caricatured orator or the caring statesman. Does he even know? Or is he, like Janus, actually both versions equally, and happy to choose the mask that suits that day’s audience best?"

"On this question of armour it cannot be too strongly insisted that anything less than the thickness necessary definitely to stop the projectile is worse than useless; a "mushroomed" bullet, possibly accompanied by a few detached fragments of steel, is infinitely more disagreeable and dangerous than a bullet which has not been upset."

"Mr. Lanchester seems to be the first man who has considered and mastered the fact and theory of every phase of the subject before sitting down to write."

"The salmon may be cited as typically fish-shaped fish."

"It is for you [Winston Churchill] to give the Orders & if they are bungled — except for the King, the Archbishop of Canterbury & the Speaker, you can sack anyone & everyone — Therefore with this terrific power you must combine urbanity, kindness and if possible Olympic calm. You used to quote:— 'On ne règne sur les âmes que par le calme' [One can reign over hearts only by keeping one's composure.] — I cannot bear that those who serve the Country and yourself should not love as well as admire and respect youBesides you won't get the best results by irascibility & rudeness. They will breed either dislike or a slave mentality — (Rebellion in War time being out of the question!)"

"I used to be a Latin dancer – with no great skill! [...] But when I was elected as an MP and I was still a young single man, I used to wear a t-shirt under my suit. And when we did the last vote 10 o'clock in the evening, I would then hop into my car and drive to a Lambada club, take off my suit like Superman, and get on the dance floor."

"I went to the [Rio de Janeiro] carnival three years in a row. ... I found a married life, politics and Latin dancing are not compatible so I'm afraid I've left my dancing years behind me."

"The principle is the backstop which traps us into following EU customs tariffs until the EU gives us permission to leave the customs union... we have to find a different solution."

"It was always going to be uphill for us because I was someone who voted Remain and I think lots of party members felt that this was a moment when you just had to have someone who voted for Brexit in the referendum. In retrospect, that was a hurdle we were never able to overcome."

"Never talk rich, never talk poor, never talk money.”"

"I think my Darling you will have to be very patient - Do not burn any boats - The P.M. [ H. H. Asquith ] has not treated you worse than Ll. G has done, in fact not so badly for he is not as much in your debt as the other man, (i.e. Marconi).* On the other hand are the Dardanelles. I feel sure that if the choice were equal you would prefer to work with the P.M. than with LI. G. - It's true that when association ceases with the P.M. he cools & congeals visibly, but all the time you were at the Admiralty he was loyal & steadfast while the other would barter you away at any time in any place. I assure you he is the direct descendant of Judas Iscariott [sic]. At this moment altho I hate the P.M, if he held out his hand I could take it, (tho' I would give it a nasty twist) but before taking Ll. G's I would have to safeguard myself with charms, touchwoods, exorcisms & by crossing myself - I always can get on with him & yesterday I had a good talk, but you can't hold his eyes, they shift away -You know I'm not good at pretending but I am going to put my pride in my pocket & reconnoitre Downing Street."

"I will mitigate the impact of a no-deal Brexit on you and step in to help smooth those short-term difficulties. If we could do it for the bankers in the financial crisis, we can do it for our fisherman, farmers and small businesses now."

"[I am prepared to leave without a deal, but not if there was a] prospect of a better deal"

"I would never pay any price if it meant that Scotland would become independent."

"[I am] passionately committed to the [UK] Union"

"My plan for defence will give our brave troops the backing they need and show the world that when it comes to the new threats to Western values, Britain is back and Britain's voice will be strong"

"But I'm also very clear that we are going to leave the European Union come what may and I will deliver that. If that happens, I will do it in a way that protects the union because it's absolutely vital that we do."

"Both of us would be crucified by our base if we went into a general election having promised that we would respect the referendum result and not having respected it"

"[There is an] existential risk to our party unless we now come together and get Brexit done"

"[I have the business experience to secure a Brexit agreement.] Doing deals is my bread and butter"

"anyone who thinks I am going to write a blank cheque to the European Union is sorely mistaken"

"It is really important to deliver a Brexit that works not just for the 52% who voted to leave the European Union, but for the 48% who didn't"

"There is one very big difference between me and Boris, which is that I am foreign secretary and I have a very big job to do to try and get this deal over the line and that has to be my focus. I think that what matters is we have a cabinet that believes in Brexit."