The politician who never made a mistake never made a decision.

Of course there are regrets. I shall regret always that I found my own authentic voice in politics. I was too conservative, too conventional. Too safe, too often. Too defensive. Too reactive. Later, too often on the back foot.

I inherited a sick economy and passed on a sound one. But one abiding regret for me is that, in between, I did not have the resources to put in place the educational and social changes about which I cared to much; I made only a beginning, and it was not enough.

A consensus politician is someone who does something that he doesn’t believe is right because it keeps people quiet when he does it.

The first requirement of politics is not intellect or stamina but patience. Politics is a very long run game and the tortoise will usually beat the hare.

Society needs to condemn a little more and understand a little less.

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.

The politician who never made a mistake never made a decision.

Ronnie Barker will forever be remembered as one of the great comic actors.