Quotes By John Major
If you look back historically, admittedly a long time ago, there were three Afghan wars in which Britain didn't even come a good second. In more recent years the Russians were there with 120,000 men for ten years.
John Major
I'm very proud of what my parents achieved and what they stood for. They didn't have much, but in many ways they were richer than most.
John Major
Only in Britain could it be thought a defect to be too clever by half. The probability is that too many people are too stupid by three-quarters.
John Major
'Government gets things right' does not encourage sales. 'Government makes another blunder' does encourage sales, so there's a commercial imperative that pushes sensationalism.
John Major
In housing in the fifties in Britain and the sixties, we pulled down the terraces - destroyed whole communities and replaced them with tower blocks and we built walkways that became rat-runs for muggers. That was the fashionable opinion. But it was wrong.
John Major
Well what would happen is that if Greece defaulted and couldn't pay its debts, all the Greek bonds that are held in other banking systems across Western Europe would suddenly have no value. You could as a knock-on effect create a banking crisis in Western Europe.
John Major
Let's turn British inventions into British industries, British factories and British jobs. Let them make pounds for us, not dollars marks or yen for others.
John Major
The sight of allegedly sophisticated politicians parroting complete tripe trivialises and demeans government and it has to be stopped. It's played a significant part in public disillusionment with politics and has led to the absurd situation where more people vote for 'Strictly Come Dancing' than voted in the general election.
John Major
I have been reading the press more regularly than others over 50 years and it seems to me that there are things that have changed in the press that have changed its character.
John Major
Certainly we've seen the enormous changes across the whole of the Middle East. The democratic genie is out of the bottle.
John Major
You've had an extremely weak euro on the foreign exchange markets, you've had a very dubious policy being followed.
John Major
I have a huge admiration for the House of Lords, I have a huge admiration for the people who work in the House of Lords, they're great public servants and they do an absolutely tremendous job.
John Major
If you look at things that really affect people's lives - sport, the arts, charities - they were always at the back of the queue for government money - health, social security, defence, pensions were all way ahead. And each of those areas - sports, the arts, the lottery - got relatively petty cash from the government.
John Major
A consensus politician is someone who does something that he doesn't believe is right because it keeps people quiet when he does it.
John Major
September the 11th was a huge shock in the United States. It was the first time you had been hit at home in your own territory by terrorist on this scale.
John Major
I think we can get respect for Parliament back providing governments and oppositions are frank.
John Major
My father was 64 when I was conceived, my mother 38, which was late for babies in the 1940s.
John Major
What happens when there is a conflict between the Scottish parliament, if it was established, and the Westminster parliament? Who is supreme?
John Major
I think it's extremely unlikely that the European Union will fracture with nations dropping off the edge.
John Major