Secretaries Of State For Foreign Affairs Of Great Britain And The United Kingdom

"Every winter that I remember in my childhood, he was gravely ill and seemed to be nearly dying."

"I think probably we could have done more to help people to understand what was happening, and why, and that that would have laid a bit of foundation. Whereas support for what was being done was being taken for granted"

"What people overlook is the impact – not in the sense of: ‘You’ve rejected what we said, how dare you?’ but having to join the euro, having to be in Schengen, not having all the concessions that we had won through successive governments."

"I was an engineering apprentice when there were 20 of us [women] out of 2,000 – and I was the only woman on my course for a part of it. You would just get used to how bitchy men are."

"My immediate response was that we must make sure that there’s no pressure on him to go – we must protect him, shield him, make sure he’s got through it, because I was confident that he could be got through it and carry on."

"I knew that most of my shadow cabinet colleagues didn’t support me at all, and probably most of the PLP [parliamentary Labour party].” Why not? “I think some of them probably thought I shouldn’t have been deputy anyway, a mere woman"

"I always resented the people who wrote in and said to new, young women MPs: ‘You ought to be campaigning on X or Y because that’s what a woman politician should do"

"you had a discussion in shadow cabinet, John would always genuinely want to hear everybody’s point of view. Tony and Gordon not so much, especially if someone was long-winded and not pertinent"

"But I’m under no illusions whatsoever that there will be a big screaming queue outside Keir’s door if we win."

"There’s nobody there when you go home, which is the experience of everybody who is widowed,” she says. “It’s there not being anyone to do the zip up or catch that awkward necklace – and I’m starting to get a bit of rheumatism in my hands."

"He said: ‘There’s a simple rule of thumb: if you can’t stop the story, especially if it’s untrue, then the chances are that there’s somebody on your side briefing it.’ And I pretty soon discovered that there was – one of my most admired colleagues"

"must be my greatest achievement, because so many people who had nothing to do with it tell me it was their greatest achievement"

"I was positive that the Labour party had much too much sense to elect him"

"He said to me: ‘You don’t do intimidation, do you, Margaret?’ And I hadn’t thought about it – haven’t thought about it since, really – but I sort of knew what he meant."

"I don’t remember minding. I remember thinking it was all a bit sad that those were his views. I probably thought it was a bit unfair – but, you know, life is unfair."

"I remember one of my north‑east colleagues saying firmly in the tearoom one afternoon that there wasn’t a woman in the parliamentary party who was fit to be in the shadow cabinet"

"Just because you get married doesn’t mean you don’t need to work."

"I thought that he ought to be able to see that he wasn’t suitable, he wasn’t up to the job. He wasn’t rude, but it had no effect."

"It’s this having your own facts. I’ve always believed in evidence-based policymaking, but if the evidence isn’t acceptable no matter how strong it is, that’s uncharted waters. Quite frightening waters."

"I never expected that I would ever in my life think: ‘I wonder if there’s somewhere better to live.’ I have thought it once or twice in the last couple of years, which to me is extraordinary."

"We meet on what neither of us knows will be the eve of the announcement of a snap general election. She decided, years ago, that she would retire at the next election, not because she was slowing down (at 81, she is as sharp as ever), but because Leo was. They always came as a package – he shelved his political ambitions to support hers, even attending her Whitehall meetings as an adviser – and she planned to spend her retirement looking after him, but he died in December 2021. Carrying on alone hasn’t always been easy."

"I remember when I was at college, at some do or another, people were passing round the bottle and I was – like everyone else – swigging out of it. And somebody was saying: ‘Oh no no no, you’re not somebody who should ever be seen swigging out of a bottle.’ It was the same sort of reaction,” she says, with a hint of satisfaction. There is a stubborn streak in Beckett, a dogged refusal to be pigeonholed or cowed, that has underpinned an extraordinary half-century in politics."

"The world does not need any more white saviours. As I’ve said before, this just perpetuates tired and unhelpful stereotypes. Let’s instead promote voices from across the continent of Africa and have serious debate."

"You're going to struggle to find any politician in the Western world who hasn't had things to say in response to Donald Trump."

"My own career in law and politics owes so much to the U.S., which gave me the honor of becoming the first black Briton to study at Harvard Law School. The land of the free has overwhelmingly been a force for progress around the world. When Martin Luther King Jr. spoke of his dreams for emancipation in the 1950s and 1960s, he empowered black people far beyond America’s 50 states."

"I would say that that wasn't strong enough... I don't care how elected they were: so was the far right in Germany."

"as Caribbean people we are not going to forget our history — we don't just want to hear an apology, we want reparation!"

""We cannot be blown off course by an imperialist fascist" (Talking about Vladimir Putin)"

"The president's threats to NATO and the U.N. are no more logical than arson. His trade wars with the E.U. and China could trigger the next great economic crisis of our times. Trump is not only a woman-hating, neo-Nazi-sympathizing sociopath. He is also a profound threat to the international order that has been the foundation of Western progress for so long."

"I am here, because you were there. We are here, because you were there."

"Henry VII."

"This tweet from the BBC is crass and unnecessary. Do we really need silly innuendo about the race of the next Pope?"

"We are in an absolutely critical moment in the Brexit discussions and what that means is that we need to get behind Theresa May to deliver the best possible Brexit. The more that we undermine Theresa May the more likely we are to end up with a fudge, which would be an absolute disaster for everyone."

"We want Brexit to make Britain more global, and not more insular"

"[I will support Theresa May] so that we can get through an agreement with the European Union based on what was agreed by the cabinet last week at Chequers"

"This government was the first to introduce tough measures to clamp down on migrants accessing the NHS and these changes will recover up to £500m per year to put back into frontline patient care."

"[David Cameron] and I would like to have a relationship with Europe where we can stay in the European Union and be confident we can be successful in the global race"

"I firmly believe that after the deal the prime minister negotiated in Europe, Britain will be better off and more secure if we remain a member of the EU. The settlement secures special status for Britain giving us a stronger voice and platform for freedom, democracy and human rights. It also means our sovereignty and the British Pound are protected and will ensure that as part of the EU we carry more weight and influence on future important decisions."

"[The EU must] ensure its sanctions against Russia are comprehensive and we truly stand shoulder to shoulder with the US"

"Those who do not share our values need to know that there will always be a serious price to pay if red lines are crossed, whether territorial incursions, the use of banned weapons or increasingly cyber attacks"

"We look at the European Union and we worry about Britain's ability to compete in the global race... the Conservative Party says if we are going to be successful in that global race we need to renegotiate our relationship with Europe and give the British people a say."

"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."

"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."

"As a businessman I always paid my bills. That being said, if we leave without a deal I will not hand over a penny more than is legally required of us."

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

"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."

"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 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."

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

"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"