Top 100 Quotes & Sayings by John McDonnell - Page 2

The assertion that the war in Iraq has had no role in increasing the terrorist threat to Britain is clearly just intellectually unsustainable.

There'll be creative business leaders but actually, when it comes down to it, they can't do anything unless they're part of a collective. Unless they've got that wealth creator, that engineer and that work person, that skilled person at the bench to fulfil that idea... they're nothing.

We believe that leaders should be following the masses. We only ran in leadership campaigns to get our ideas across, to use it as a platform.

You can't change the world through the parliamentary system.

Political rivalry is one thing but personal smear campaigns scrape the barrel of political infighting.

I'm a Marxist.

There are some lines in the sand you just do not cross. Undermining basic civil liberties by locking people up for long periods without charge is one of them.

Leaders play an important role, but it is the Labour party's supporters and potential supporters who should take the lead in discussing and determining the sense of purpose and direction of the party if we are to return to being a social movement aiming to transform our society.

I would like Leveson Part Two. I think Leveson was a good exercise. That is why the Tories blocked it, because it was beginning to develop more accountability within the media itself.

When I had the heart attack I had one stent inserted, which was great.

Out of the suffering of the 1930s, Britain built a civilising society, based in large part on the important lesson that unemployment is rarely the fault of individual malingering but the structural consequence of governments allowing the free market to rule our lives.

You've got to demonstrate you're capable of developing policies but, more importantly, you're capable of implementing them.

The decision over Heathrow expansion exemplifies the style of policy-making that starts with capitulation to a powerful self-interested lobby, blatantly fixes a public consultation and then drives through a policy that destroys any vestiges of green credentials the government had left.

We want to be absolutely clear to the people what we are about. No backroom deals whatsoever and we're not going to be held back by any other political parties.

It was inevitable and understandable that the election of Jeremy Corbyn would be a massive culture shock for some sections of the party, especially some members of the parliamentary Labour party.

I've always honestly and openly said I believe in a united Ireland, but the point was to try and get to a united Ireland without the violence.

I do not want to be associated with those that are willing to support undermining the basic human rights that socialists have fought and sacrificed themselves to secure and protect over generations.

If Marx was alive during the Stalinist period, he'd be first to be in the gulag.

If bitter party name-calling turns people off then smear politics just destroys all credibility in the aims of politicians, the role of political parties and the political process itself.

I sneaked into an Everton match once. I'm a Liverpool supporter, but Liverpool were away, Liverpool reserves weren't playing, there wasn't even a youth match, so I took my son into an Everton match. God help me. It wasn't me.

Well organised displays of spontaneous support is one of the New Labour machine's specialities.

The concept of loyalty to the leader is set firmly in the ethos of the Labour party.

Very clearly, government investment can and should be used to support economic growth.

When you talk to people about their practical life, for example when they're at work, like the rail industry, the RMT members know better than anyone else how to run their industry.

New Labour has systematically alienated section after section of the coalition we need to win and retain power.

In terms of mainstream media it's very difficult to break through if you're on the left.

The U.K. needs to diversify - to become the technological as well as the financial centre of Europe.

We stand in the centre ground of the Labour party and our traditions. The policies we are advocating go right back to the beginning.

I'm a plain speaker.

As the world changes, the way we work changes with it.

I've always said the left needs to be ready for government.

I'm from the north. You can take the boy out of the north but you can't take the north out of the boy.

There's something in people's character, particularly the British character, about unfairness. They don't like it.

How many times have we seen politicians in office become cut off from the outside world and become unaware that the world has moved on?

Getting political representation is important, but change comes through using direct action, campaigning, and trade unions.

When you're in the depths of a recession, that isn't the time when people want to challenge the system, they're too busy trying to survive. It's when they're told we're coming out of a recession, growth is returning, and they're not seeing the benefits of it, or they're not seeing them quick enough.

I saw the Blair-Mandelson regime as a coup, and I think it was a well-funded coup as well - resources obviously came from big private-sector backers. But all through that period the bulk of the rank and file party were what the party has always been, a socialist party.

Meeting the challenges of the future requires a state that can think and act strategically.

Politicians have patronised and talked down to us all when it comes to our economy, but ordinary working people have to manage on incomes significantly lower than the likes of George Osborne and his friends in the City. They could teach the bankers and many commentators a thing or two about managing a budget responsibly.

The Tories have made a complete mess of Brexit negotiations.