Look, Peter, if John dies I will be leader not Gordon, and I think somehow this will happen. ibid.
Moments later the Labour leader was dead and soon after that Blair was on his way to Downing Street. ibid. Peter Mandelson’s commentary
I’m going to fuck Iraq. ibid. George Bush to Tony Blair
This is a proper war, with tanks and everything. ibid. Tony Blair to Robin Cook
Tell George I need a plane or an aircraft-carrier to get me out of here. ibid. Tony Blair to phone operator
Of course it’s sad when someone gives up their life for a cause however misguided, but in the end the decision I made to kill him was the right one. ibid. Tony Blair’s commentary
What friends, Tony? You don’t have any. ibid. Carole Caplin to Blair
What fucking prick wrote this dossier? ibid. Alastair Campbell
Tony, what are we going to do about Robin Cook? He’s threatening to resign. bid. Peter Mandelson to Blair
Yet again another unavoidable death, but hey, shit happens. ibid. Blair’s commentary
Sorry, sir. Blair’s killed again. This time on the A4. ibid. rozzer to boss
Yes, yes of course. General Pinochet hid out here when he too was on the run for mass murder. ibid. Mandelson to rozzer
I’m only human. And that’s what people really like about me. ibid. Blair’s commentary
Obviously one doesn’t enjoy throttling light entertainment performers even if their material is weak. ibid.
Peter Mandelson was given a peerage and retired gracefully. Gordon Brown became Prime Minister for a short while and has returned to Kirkcaldy in Scotland. Tony Blair is still at large. ibid. caption
Waitress: Would you like to order, sir?
Margaret Thatcher: Yes. I would like a steak.
Waitress: How do you like it?
Margaret Thatcher: Oh, raw please.
Waitress: What about the vegetables?
Margaret Thatcher: Oh, they’ll have the same as me. Spitting Image
Fidel Castro: In my country we do not have a political opposition.
Neil Kinnock: No, nor do we. Spitting Image s2e3, ITV 1985
The Britain that is going to be forged in the white heat of this revolution. Heath vs. Wilson: The 10 Year Duel, BBC 2011
The Heath/Wilson duel spanned four elections. Their rivalry was both political and personal. Harold Wilson and Edward Heath were the political titans of their era: two grammar-school-boys born in the same year. Who grew into entirely different men bound by fate. Their double act did come to an end, but by then the Heath/Wilson duel had defined a nation. ibid.
The self-made Yorkshireman, with his home-spun pipe, Gannex raincoat and humble tastes, revolutionised the political landscape. ibid.
Heath’s performance at the dispatch box was a devastating disappointment. ibid.
The personal animosity was palpable to MPs watching. ibid.
In the autumn of 1967 Wilson and his chancellor James Callaghan were finally forced into devaluation: what concerned Wilson more than anything was how to present this surrender to the British people. ibid.
As the summer of 1970 approached, he [Wilson] had a double-digit lead ... The 1970 election was the epicentre of the Heath/Wilson duel. ibid.
On 22nd January 1972 Heath took Britain into Europe. ibid.
Heath was deeply troubled. Unemployment went against everything he believed in. It marked the beginning of a terrible few weeks. On 30th January 1972 thirteen men were shot dead on the streets of Derry by the British army: Bloody Sunday. ibid.
Heath was battling rocketing inflation at home and battling economic forces. ibid.
At Heath’s moment of maximum weakness the Miners came back for more. ibid.
Wilson immediately bought off the miners. ibid.
In October 1974 Wilson called another election, the fourth between himself and Heath. Heath was drinking in the Last Chance Saloon. Wilson won again. But only just. ibid.
Heath’s party did not forgive him. ibid.
Europe: Wilson had opposed Heath’s entry saying the terms were wrong. In 1975 he renegotiated the terms. The changes were entirely superficial ... It had been a curious double act to get there. ibid.
On 16th March 1976, just over a year after Heath had been ditched by the Conservative Party, Harold Wilson resigned as prime minister and slowly slipped out of politics. ibid.
Their duel now seems another era. Yet the problems they faced are oddly familiar: Britain’s identity within Europe is still debated; Trade Unions are gearing up against a Conservative-led government; the economy is fragile; the shadow of Wilson and Heath hangs over us. ibid.
Politics is supposed to be the second oldest profession. I have come to realise that it bears a very close resemblance to the first. Ronald Reagan, conference Los Angeles 2nd March 1977
We cannot, under the scrutiny of a free press and public, tell different stories to different audiences, foreign and domestic, friendly and hostile. John F Kennedy, November 1961
Politics is the discussion of things which bring about real change in the world. Richard D Hall, Global Control, Richplanet TV 2012
All the main political parties are fronts for the International Bankers. It does not matter who you vote for, the bankers control all main political parties. Parliament is a charade to give the illusion of choice. Illuminati a Myth?
A wingnut is someone on the far-right wing or far-left wing of the political spectrum – the professional partisans, the unhinged activists and the paranoid conspiracy theorists. They’re the people who always try to divide rather than unite us. John Avlon
More things in politics happen by accident or exhaustion than happen by conspiracy. Jeff Greenfield
The greatest propaganda coup of the American Right has been to convince its citizens that we are in the grip of a liberal conspiracy. Shane Smith
We have learned in recent years to translate almost all of political life in terms of conspiracy. And the spy novel, as never before, really, has come into its own. John le Carré
So the current two-party system has been dominated and bought up and controlled by the Elite ... They form a royal arch ... Really it’s one unit supporting themselves, and containing revolution ... We are locked within the left/right paradigm, and then it becomes this huge pageant, this huge distraction, where we analyse every facet of the two political parties, never realising they themselves are simply a front, or puppets, for a larger power structure … And then the two parties can limit the issues that are debated. Alex Jones, How the Elite Control Politics
I really do think there is something about being brought up a Mormon that allows Mitt Romney to be the ultimate shape-shifter in politics. All politicians do that, but Romney does it in a way that’s just freaky, like the old version just never existed. He came out during the (first presidential) debate and was a completely different guy without any acknowledgment of the past. Bill Maher
Daddy’s in politics. He has to be ingratiating. Yes, Minister s1e6: The Right to Know s1e6, wife to daughter, with Jim, BBC 1980
Consciences are for politicians, Bernard. Yes, Prime Minister s2e2: Official Secrets, Sir Humphrey, BBC 1987
You either lay off politics or get out. Casablanca 1942 ***** starring Humphrey Bogart & Ingrid Bergman & Paul Henreid & Claude Rains & Conrad Veidt & Sydney Greenstreet & Peter Lorre & Curt Bois et al, director Michael Curtiz, Rick
Spending has been Britain’s national obsession. There’s nothing we like better than to splash a bit of cash ... So have our politicians. Only now the party’s over. Nick Robinson, Your Money and How They Spend It I BBC 2011
The biggest spending squeeze since the Second World War. ibid.