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In all sincerity, we offer to the loved ones of all innocent victims over the past 25 years, abject and true remorse - Combined Loyalist Military Command, announcing their ceasefire in Northern Ireland

Any more battles on this island will be political battles - Albert Reynolds, the Irish prime minister, after the ceasefire announcement

Tony Blair is hungry for power. He has learnt the phrases a Leader of the Opposition thinks the public wants to hear - Michael Heseltine

Wild horses would not drag me to the Conservative Party conference at Bournemouth this week - Julian Critchley, Tory MP

There is no point in making further promises now about reducing taxation; nobody will believe us - Sir Edward Heath

Most politicians' memoirs are not written to be read but to allow their authors to pay off old scores . . . over controversies the rest of us have probably forgotten about and certainly do not care about - Gerald Kaufman, Labour MP

The idea that I run around peddling Kalashnikovs or second-hand MiG jets is ridiculous. I haven't even sold a penknife - Mark Thatcher, denying that he made pounds 12m helping to sell arms to Saudi Arabia

I feel no more loyalty to the old school than I would feel, say, to Selfridges, for buying socks there - John Mortimer, an Old Harrovian

The hardest thing about ageing is that your body looks like it needs an iron - Jill Gascoine, actress