Michael Foot Quotes (54 quotes) | Quotes of famous people

Speech http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1982/apr/03/falkland-islands in the House of Commons (3 April 1982) after Argentina's invasion of the Falkland Islands.
1980s

“The rights and the circumstances of the people in the Falkland Islands must be uppermost in our minds. There is no question in the Falkland Islands of any colonial dependence or anything of the sort. It is a question of people who wish to be associated with this country and who have built their whole lives on the basis of association with this country. We have a moral duty, a political duty and every other kind of duty to ensure that that is sustained. The people of the Falkland Islands have the absolute right to look to us at this moment of their desperate plight, just as they have looked to us over the past 150 years. They are faced with an act of naked, unqualified aggression, carried out in the most shameful and disreputable circumstances. Any guarantee from this invading force is utterly worthless—as worthless as any of the guarantees that are given by this same Argentine junta to its own people.”

Michael Foot

Speech http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1982/apr/03/falkland-islands in the House of Commons (3 April 1982) after Argentina's invasion of the Falkland Islands.
1980s

“We are in for fierce and angry times in this country.”

Michael Foot

Speech http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1970/dec/03/coal-industry-bill#column_1506 in the House of Commons on the Coal Industry Bill (3 December 1970)
1970s

“I have respect for the history of this House. There is nothing reprehensible in people recalling that some of the liberties of the people of this country enshrined in this House go back not merely to the conflicts of the seventeenth century, which will certainly apply to many of the matters with which we have to deal—the power over taxation which resides, or is still to reside, in this House—but to the controversies which prevailed in the House of Commons during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. If people say to me that all these are remote, old-fashioned ideas, I reply that they are as up-to-date as the ideas that brought the Labour Party into being.”

Michael Foot

Speech https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1972/feb/17/european-communities-bill#column_741 in the House of Commons (17 February 1972)
1970s

Michael Foot Quotes about people

“The national strike of the miners in 1972 performed, I believe, a great service, not only to the miners, but the people in Britain today who wanted coal”

Michael Foot

House of Commons speech (1974)
1970s

“Most liberties have been won by people who broke the law”

Michael Foot

interview, 1980
1980s

“In the Labour movement they said they would have no truck with coalition, but if Britain stayed in the EEC then for decades to come they would be enmeshed in various forms of coalition government than ever before. That was the most important issue of all. If in Britain the people did not like a government they could vote it out of office, but they had no similar recourse in the case of the institutions of the EEC, which had supreme powers and which were undemocratic.”

Michael Foot

Speech to the Labour Party conference on Britain's membership of the EEC (26 April 1975), quoted in The Times (28 April 1975), p. 4
1970s

“I first joined the Labour party in Liverpool because of what I saw of the poverty, the unemployment, and the endless infamies committed on the inhabitants of the back-streets of that city. I am horrified that the threat of unemployment and economic misery is now being deployed against the same kind of people once again.”

Michael Foot

Source: Press conference after his election as Labour leader (10 November 1980), quoted in Simon Hoggart and David Leigh, Michael Foot: A Portrait (1981), p. 57 and The Guardian (11 November 1980), p. 1

Michael Foot: Trending quotes

“The only man I knew who could make a curse sound like a caress.”

Michael Foot

Aneurin Bevan, Vol 1, 1962
1960s

“I think the House of Lords ought to be abolished and I don't think the best way for me to abolish it is to go there myself”

Michael Foot

On his departure from the House of Commons, 1992.
1990s

Way , Thinking , Housing

“Socialism without public ownership is nothing but a fantastic apology.”

Michael Foot

The Daily Herald, 1956.
1950s

Michael Foot Quotes

“It's quite a change to have a prime minister who hasn't got any political ideas at all.”

Michael Foot

On John Major, 1991
1990s

Idea , Change

“There is nothing wrong with being a Marxist. Their point of view is essential to a democratic debate”

Michael Foot

The Daily Telegraph, 1977
1970s

“He was without any rival whatever, the first comic genius who ever installed himself in Downing Street”

Michael Foot

On Benjamin Disraeli, in his own book, Debts of Honour
1980s

“She has no imagination and that means no compassion”

Michael Foot

On Margaret Thatcher, 1981
1980s

Imagination

“He's passed from rising hope to elder statesman without any intervening period whatsoever.”

Michael Foot

On David Steel, 1979
1970s

Hope

“I've been on the left of the Party since I joined it about 1934 and I haven't seen much reason for altering…I have always been a strong libertarian both inside the Labour Party and outside…what I want to seek to do over a period of course is to establish a Socialist society.”

Michael Foot

Source: On BBC's Panorama (22 March 1976)

Strong

“Of all the sights and sounds which attracted me on my first arrival to live in London in the mid-thirties, one combined operation left a lingering, individual spell. I naturally went to Hyde Park to hear the orators, the best of the many free entertainments on offer in the capital. I heard the purest milk of the world flowing, then as now, from the platform of the Socialist Party of Great Britain.”

Michael Foot

Debts of Honour, 1980.
1980s

World , Nature

“When I was a small boy, following the affairs of the House of Commons as closely as I could, I asked my father what a Royal Commission was. He said, "It is a broody hen sitting on a china egg."”

Michael Foot

Speech http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1964/dec/03/schedule-7-commencement-transitional in the House of Commons (3 December 1964)
1960s

Boy , Housing

“It is not necessary that every time he rises he should give his famous imitation of a semi-house-trained polecat.”

Michael Foot

Speech http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1978/mar/02/business-of-the-house in the House of Commons (2 March 1978), referring to Norman Tebbit
1970s

Time , Housing , Training

“How long will it be before the cry goes up: "Let's kill all the judges?"”

Michael Foot

Attacking the National Industrial Relations Court and its President, Sir John Donaldson, in a speech at the Scottish Miners' Gala in Edinburgh (3 June 1972)
1970s

Cry

“Since the matter has been raised, may I say that the individual concerned is not an endorsed member of the Labour Party, and, so far as I am concerned, never will be endorsed? [Interruption. ] May I add that, as the Labour Party has played the leading part in the establishment and sustenance of parliamentary democracy, we do not need any instructions on the matter from skin-deep democrats on the Conservative Benches or defectors on this side?”

Michael Foot

Remark http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1981/dec/03/engagements-1 in the House of Commons (3 December 1981), referring to Peter Tatchell. Foot subsequently corrected "endorsed member" to "endorsed candidate".
1980s

Democracy , Parting

“I certainly think that a Labour Government will have to have effective powers to control the outflow of capital.”

Michael Foot

Source: On Election Call (21 February 1974)

Thinking

“Disraeli was my favourite Tory. He was an adventurer pure and simple, or impure and complex. I'm glad to say Gladstone got the better of him.”

Michael Foot

March 1975
1970s

“The members of our secret service have apparently spent so much time under the bed looking for communists that they haven't had the time to look in the bed.”

Michael Foot

on the Profumo Scandal, 1963
1960s

Secret , Time

“Some fool or some trigger happy judicial finger.”

Michael Foot

On the NIRC Judge Sir John Donaldson (Hansard, 7 May 1974, Col. 239)
1970s

Fools , Happiness

“We had not the armour, the strength, the quickness in manoeuvre, yes, the leadership”

Michael Foot

explaining Labour's 1983 election defeat when he was leader in his book Another Heart And Other Pulses, 1984.
1980s

“No rising hope on the political scene who offered his services to Labour when I happened to be its leader can be dismissed as an opportunist.”

Michael Foot

On Tony Blair, 1995
1990s

Hope

“[There are] judges who stretch the law…to suit reactionary attitudes.”

Michael Foot

On ITV's People and Politics (9 May 1974)
1970s

Law

“The right hon. Member for Heseltine—[Laughter. ]—well, that is what he is; he sticks to that principle more than he does to Henley.”

Michael Foot

Speech http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1991/mar/26/community-charges-general-reduction-bill in the House of Commons (26 March 1991), referring to Michael Heseltine. MPs are referred to in the House by the constituency they represent rather than by their name, so Mr Heseltine would be "Rt. Hon. Member for Henley". Whether by accident or intent, Foot mixed this up in a way which clearly amused other MPs.
1990s

Laughter

“Is the Labour Party to remain a democratic party in which the right of free criticism and free debate is not merely tolerated but encouraged? Or are the rank and file of the party to be bludgeoned or cowed into an uncritical subservience towards the leadership?”

Michael Foot

Tribune, 1954.
1950s

“Think of it! A second Chamber selected by the Whips. A seraglio of eunuchs.”

Michael Foot

Speech http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1969/feb/03/parliament-no-2-bill in the House of Commons (3 February 1969)
1960s

Thinking

“Men of power have not time to read; yet men who do not read are unfit for power”

Michael Foot

On Benjamin Disraeli, in his own book, 'Debts of Honour
1980s

Men , Time , Reading

“It is all the more necessary that we should prevent an extension of the powers of the European Assembly, however it may be elected. I have been opposed to the extension of those powers, and I remain so. … We must preserve every precious part of the power that we retain in the House.”

Michael Foot

Speech https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1986/jun/26/extended-meaning-of-the-treaties-and-the#S6CV0100P0_19860626_HOC_324 in the House of Commons (26 June 1986) against the Single European Act
1980s

Housing , Parting

“I am asking this movement to exert itself as it has never done before, to show the qualities which we have, the socialist imagination that exists in our movement, the readiness to reforge the alliance, stronger than ever, between the government and the trade unions, and above all to show the supreme quality in politics, the red flame of socialist courage.”

Michael Foot

Source: Speech to the Labour Party Conference in Blackpool (29 September 1975), quoted in Kenneth O. Morgan, Michael Foot (Harper Perennial, 2008), p. 319

Courage , Imagination

“The issue of sovereignty…was always intertwined with the issue of democracy. Many of us held that it was not only unwise but wanton for British MPs to surrender a part of our democracy to institutions which were so grotesquely undemocratic.”

Michael Foot

Letter to The Times (4 January 1973), p. 13, regarding Britain's membership of the EEC
1970s

Democracy , Parting

“Like it or not, one of the most spectacular events of our age is the comparative success of the Communist economic systems. … Do you seriously imagine that there is no challenge from the Communist States on this level? And who do you think will win the contest if we stumble on as we are—the Communist States, which are not afraid of full production, or the Western States, which have still never achieved for any considerable period full production and full employment without inflation? Yes, who will win—the Communist States, who are turning out trained technicians at an unexampled pace, or the Western powers, who contentedly spend more on advertising than education?”

Michael Foot

'Up The Garden', The Spectator (22 January 1960), pp. 8–9
1960s

Imagination , Success , Thinking , Age

“THE ARMAMENTS RACE IN EUROPE MUST BE STOPPED NOW. … I am not in favour of going to war in order to defend the Foreign Investments of British financiers, or the protective tariffs of British industrialists. … I am a young man. I appeal to the Youth of the Monmouth Division to consider what the world offers to our generation. WAR and POVERTY are the twin dangers which threaten our chances of a decent, happy life in the World. All over Europe youth is being recruited into the ranks of Fascism. Fascism represents the last attempt of those who control economic power to maintain their supremacy. … I WANT TO SEE A GOVERNMENT IN THIS COUNTRY WHICH WILL SERVE THE INTERESTS OF THE DESERVING MANY, AND NOT THOSE OF THE WEALTHY FEW.”

Michael Foot

Source: Election address (c. November 1935), quoted in Mervyn Jones, Michael Foot (Victor Gollancz, 1994), p. 43

Chance , Country , War , Youth

“I am a Liberal, first of all, because of the unfaltering resistance which liberalism is pledged to offer to those twin dangers of fascism and war.”

Michael Foot

'Why I am a Liberal', News Chronicle (4 April 1934), quoted in Kenneth O. Morgan, Michael Foot (Harper Perennial, 2008), p. 30
1930s

War

“Socialism with its ideal of the national control of consumption and production, its substitution of national barter for the processes of foreign trade, is by no means an international force. … It looks inwards rather than outwards and sets up a national economy, which every true protectionist should envy. Russia is a powerful national state and has indulged in nationalist policies. … Even a Socialist state cannot provide against war unless a world authority has been formed.”

Michael Foot

Article in Young Oxford and War (1934), quoted in Mervyn Jones, Michael Foot (Victor Gollancz, 1994), p. 31
1930s

World , War , Envy

“I am bitterly opposed to any form of legislation, particularly legislation introduced by a Labour Government, which involves an element of colour bar. It is an appalling thing to have happened. I want to see us returning as swiftly as possible to a situation where we wipe away this stain on the reputation of the Labour movement.”

Michael Foot

Source: Speech https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1965/nov/23/schedule-acts-continued-till-end-of#column_370 in the House of Commons (23 November 1965)

“It is a justifiable proposition that every wave of immigration we have had into this country has benefited this country.”

Michael Foot

Source: Speech https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1965/nov/23/schedule-acts-continued-till-end-of#column_365 in the House of Commons (23 November 1965)

Country

“American capitalism is arrogant, self-confident, merciless and convinced of its capacity to dictate the destinies of the world.”

Michael Foot

Source: Article in The Daily Herald (14 December 1945), quoted in Mervyn Jones, Michael Foot (1994), p. 141

World , Self-confidence , Confidence

“Even the victor in a just cause is susceptible to the passions which war arouses. Every inhuman feeling is at once exacerbated. Truth, decency, morality, justice are the first casualties in any war. The accumulated effect makes a just settlement impossible. ... The pacifist treasures justice, liberty; but he believes that they can only be lastingly secured by peaceable means and that the use of force will only contaminate them. ... Armaments themselves provide an independent cause of war owing to the suspicion and fear which they breed. ... Unilateral disarmament offers the only way to escape once the policy of collateral disarmament has failed.”

Michael Foot

Source: Article in Young Oxford and War (1934), quoted in Mervyn Jones, Michael Foot (1994), p. 30

Justice , War , Truth , Passion

“I know a fascist when I see one.”

Michael Foot

Remark to Tam Dalyell at a meeting of the Parliamentary Labour Party after he had criticised Foot's speech in the Falklands debate, quoted in Kenneth O. Morgan, Michael Foot (2007), p. 412
1980s

“If only my hon. Friend would conduct the novel experiment of listening with his ears instead of his voice, a whole new world would open to him.”

Michael Foot

Speech https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/1979-11-26/debates/294bd8ba-7ace-4fab-9f9c-12be13ccb2ad/CommonsChamber#contribution-6ae9a2db-2e77-4e8d-8630-d90f5f7d8d0e in the House of Commons (26 November 1979)
1970s

World