Quote Unquote

Any talk of tax cuts this year is complete Cloud-cuckoo-land - Kenneth Clarke, after this week's rise in interest rates

The whole Treasury world of forecasting is an absolute Mad Hatter's tea party of fantasy and contradiction - Alan Clark

I was caught on the hop. I am new in this game, I have only been in the job a few weeks . . . Yes, it queries my competence - Jeremy Hanley, Tory party chairman, after dismissing crowd violence at a boxing match as 'exuberance'

A senior politician is only ever a sound-bite away from destruction - David Mellor

It annoys me that so often on TV the only time you see a black man touch a woman is if he's murdered her - Lenny Henry, on why he wants to do love scenes on television

We had dozens of disused hospitals to choose from, thanks to Mrs Bottomley - Neil Tennant, of the Pet Shop Boys, whose latest video was shot in the defunct Westminster Hospital

We need to restore common sense to the NHS, where patients again come before image- building - David Blunkett

I have to ask if Mr Major is afraid of peace. He is trawling around for excuses not to get involved - Gerry Adams

One evil deed does not warrant another evil deed - Sir Patrick Mayhew, warning against retaliation for a loyalist bomb attack

Self-defence for women is not compulsory in schools - that is the biggest crime - Caryn Franklin, presenter of 'The Clothes Show', who was recently attacked while on her way home