"The State has slipped into an attitude of studied amorality... It is time to return to plain speaking and traditional values... The new British Disease — the self-destructive sickness of national cynicism... The chattering classes have succumbed to masochism and defeatism... We should not allow the national debate to be driven by the agendas of tiny discontented minorities... Those who wish to give up national sovereignty and see Britain absorbed into a crowned European political body show the ultimate symptoms of political doubt, even defeatism... We are a proud nation... Conservatism begins with individualism, but it doesn't end there... Britain's armed forces are superb... The quiet majority also looks to us to defend it from crime... The free market is democratic and decentralising. It is a wonderfully efficient transmitter of information... A powerful bulwark of political and personal freedom... Political union would mean giving up the government of the United Kingdom... That's impossible."
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Members of the Parliament of the United KingdomUniversity of Cambridge alumniJournalists from EnglandConservative Party (UK) politiciansBroadcasters
Original Language: English
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Sources
Clear Blue Water, pamphlet published by Conservative Way Forward, quoted in William Rees-Mogg, 'Give us something to believe', The Times (10 October 1994), p. 18
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Michael_Portillo
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Michael Portillo
Michael Denzil Xavier Portillo (born 26 May 1953) is a British journalist, broadcaster, and former Conservative politician. His broadcast series include railway documentaries such as Great British Railway Journeys and Great Continental Railway Journeys. A former member of the Conservative Party, he was Member of Parliament (MP) for Enfield Southgate from 1984 to 1997 and Kensington and Chelsea from 1999 to [[w:2005 United Kingdom general e
11 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Michael Portillo →
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