David John Mellor is a British broadcaster, barrister, and former politician. As a member of the Conservative Party, he served in the Cabinet of Prime Minister John Major as Chief Secretary to the Treasury and Secretary of State for National Heritage , before resigning in 1992. He was the Member of Parliament for Putney from 1979 to 1997.
Since leaving Parliament, Mellor has worked as a newspaper columnist, a radio presenter, and an after-dinner speaker, served as Chairman of the government's 'Football Task Force', and established a successful career as an international business consultant and entrepreneur.
Wikipedia
“The press – the popular press – is drinking in the Last Chance Saloon.”
Quoted in Roy Greenslade, "A decade of diplomacy," http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2001/feb/05/mondaymediasection.pressandpublishing The Guardian (2001-02-05)
Comment made in 1989 after a series of salacious stories in the tabloid press.
Quoted in Brian Cathcart, "Were you still up for Portillo?" (Penguin Books, 1997), pp. 63-4
From a speech following his defeat in the 1997 General Election and directed at Sir James Goldsmith.
Quoted in Anil Dawar, "'Build a tower block? Not in our dockyard,'" http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1519779/Build-a-tower-block-Not-in-our-dockyard.htmlThe Telegraph (2006-05-30)
Comment on the proposed construction of a 17-storey block of flats near his home in the St Katharine Docks, London.
“Lawyers are like rhinoceroses: thick-skinned, short-sighted, and always ready to charge.”
Question Time, BBC1 (1992-12-03).
Quoted in The Independent (1992-11-03) following his resignation in September of that year.
