Quote Unquote

Putting Kenneth Clarke in charge of the police is like putting King Herod in charge of Mothercare - Mike Bennett, Metropolitan chairman of the Police Federation

Enjoy the show. It gets funnier in the second half - Robert Stephens on the Royal Shakespeare Company's 'King Lear', in which he plays the lead

Well, at least they had a referendum, which is more than we have done - Baroness Thatcher giving her reaction to the Danish 'yes' vote on the Maastricht treaty

I write big, broad melodies, so I suppose that's why I get accused of plagiarism - Andrew Lloyd Webber

All I needed was a head for heights - Rebecca Stephens, the first British woman to climb Everest

We believe the Rushdie issue was intentionally created by the West in an attempt to exert political pressue on Iran - Ali Akbar Rafsanjani

In the old days, it used to be one minister and six quill-toting clerks. But now my ministry has 14,000 people. And truly, no one knows what they are doing - Michael Hesletine, President of the Board of Trade

She always looked at death as her last great voyage - John Murray, publisher of Dame Freya Stark, the travel writer

Putting it bluntly, they think this government has got a death wish - Elizabeth Peacock, Tory MP for Batley and Spen, of constituents' fears that free prescriptions for pensioners and children could end

I enjoy being a pundit. Pundits never get it wrong, but ministers often do - David Mellor

The Government is beginning to resemble Eldorado - rotten actors, lousy scripts and no popularity - Tony Banks, Labour MP

What we have seen is a recession that has gone on longer than we hoped - Michael Portillo