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Put the vinegar on first, otherwise it washes off the salt - John Major, as a young man, advising his old flame Mrs Jean Kierans on how best to season fish and chips wrapped in newspaper

Whatever Tony Blair lacks in a Labour upbringing, his wife makes up for it - Michael Foot

Genuinely sensitive information makes up a small part of our official secrets. Truth is suppressed, not to protect the country from enemy agents but to protect the Government of the day against the people - Roy Hattersley, calling for a Freedom of Information Act

There is no doubt that it was inhuman but it makes no sense to discuss whether it was legally right. What good do such discussions bring 50 years later? - Roman Herzog, German President, refusing to back claims that the bombing campaign was a war crime

If public opinion continues to see Eton as a system of litism and social injustice, no politician will dare to present the electorate with an Etonian as a potential Prime Minister. So much for those who insist that an Eton education is an untold advantage in life - Matthew Wilson, writing in the `Chronicle', the Eton College magazine, of which he is editor

The high road to England is trodden above all by the Scottish professional classes. They need the greater English stage. They appreciate the greater English rewards - John Casey, Fellow of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge

I have made a shambles of a lot of things in my life, but not this time. Please bear witness I have handled this with restraint - Lord Longford, whose coat could not be found when he handed in his ticket at the Caf Royal cloakroom