Quote Unquote

I have always been willing to be judged on my record - Norman Lamont

Friends who knew him in Grimsby will be sorry to hear - Irene Lamont, explaining to a local paper why she was telling them that her son had resigned

This is a sacking dressed up as a reshuffle - Paddy Ashdown

John Redwood's zeal for privatisation will go down like a rat sandwich - Ieuan Wyn Jones, Plaid Cymru MP, of the newly-appointed Welsh Secretary

Virtually every department of the Government is being sucked into the cover-up - Jim Cousins, Labour MP, member of a Commons select committee inquiring into the Iraqi supergun affair

Railways have always been political - can you think of any business that runs through more marginal constituencies? - Sir Peter Parker, former chairman of British Rail

When it is said that our Royal Family is the envy of foreigners, I have always noticed that what foreigners particularly like is that it is ours and not theirs - David Hare, playwright

As far as I am concerned, dirty tricks are part and parcel of effective government - Alan Clark, former Defence Minister

Tory rebellions are a bit like tooth fairies - believe in them when you see them - Brian Wilson, Labour transport spokesman, on backbench opposition to rail privatisation plans

I was recruited to Lloyd's at a riverside picnic in Africa. It was full of crocodiles, but they were not half as dangerous as the sharks at Lime Street - Tony Ravenscroft, a Lloyd's Name

Our Establishment has presided over economic decline and bequeathed a culture of mediocrity. Why join a bunch of losers? - Andrew Neil, editor of the 'Sunday Times'