Top 103 Quotes & Sayings by William Hague

Explore popular quotes and sayings by a British politician William Hague.
Last updated on December 25, 2024.
William Hague

William Jefferson Hague, Baron Hague of Richmond, is a British Conservative Party politician and life peer who served as Leader of the Conservative Party and Leader of the Opposition from 1997 to 2001. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Richmond (Yorks) in North Yorkshire from 1989 to 2015. He served in the Cameron government as First Secretary of State from 2010 to 2015, Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs from 2010 to 2014, and Leader of the House of Commons from 2014 to 2015.

Labour have been listening for too long to the so-called experts who think that competition is a dirty word and that communicating facts to our children is elitist.
We are making progress militarily, there is no doubt about that. You've seen the reports from Misrata, although reports of the Gaddafi forces completely pulling out of Misrata seem to be exaggerated.
To the teacher weighed down with paperwork, I say: you've been messed around too often. You came into teaching to spend your time teaching children not filling in forms.
I trust the people. — © William Hague
I trust the people.
I'm not, nor is anybody I know in government part of a nasty right wing clique.
When we have a Deputy Prime Minister who tells people not to drive cars but has two Jags himself, and where the Minister who tells people not to have two homes turns out to have nine himself no wonder the public believe politicians are hypocrites.
It is the mission of the next Conservative Government to build the Responsible Society.
If there's one thing above all that sets me apart from Tony Blair it is this - I am not embarrassed to articulate the instincts of the British people.
When you reduce taxes on higher earners it's vital to be reducing them on lower earning people as well so the nation shares in the approach.
One day I will go back to my books and piano, but not yet.
The people of Britain want a Home Secretary who will give them back their streets. They want a Home Secretary who will speak up for the victim, not the criminal.
The EU is not a country and it's not going to become a country, in my view, now or ever in the future. It is a group of countries working together.
At a time of such hope and optimism in the Middle East, we cannot let the Libyan government violate every principle of international law and human rights with impunity.
The total economy of Latin America is bigger than China.
The war in Iraq, clearly has not turned out in the way that was hoped.
You have to have as many defences in place as you possibly can. But even then of course - and it's important to stress this - you cannot guarantee being able to prevent every attack or every kind of attack.
Syria should not belong to one family, to one coterie, or to one party. It belongs to all the people of Syria equally, in all their religious and ethnic diversity. — © William Hague
Syria should not belong to one family, to one coterie, or to one party. It belongs to all the people of Syria equally, in all their religious and ethnic diversity.
Obviously a Conservative government will always leave taxes lower than they have been under Labour. Those things go with the territory of the Conservative Party.
The EU should be concentrated on adapting to globalisation and global competitiveness, not building more powerful centralised institutions in Brussels.
Wouldn't it be better to have a watertight law designed to catch the guilty, rather than a press release law designed to catch the headlines?
To the hard-working people who set a little bit aside each month, to provide for their children, or to fund their own retirement, I say: you should be rewarded not punished.
I've always been opposed myself to prisoners having the vote.
There is no budget for travel for a Shadow Foreign Secretary.
It's really necessary for the United States to continue to give strong leadership to the Middle East peace process, supported by European countries at the same time.
It must be quite rare for an interviewer to be interviewed.
Egypt is a sovereign nation.
Spending only what the country can afford, rewarding savings, encouraging independence, supporting marriage: people know that these things are common sense.
Today further EU targeted sanctions on Syria come into force. The message is clear and unambiguous: those responsible for the repression will be singled out and held accountable.
The appalling crackdown that we witnessed in Hama and other Syrian cities on 30 and 31 July only erode the regime's legitimacy and increase resentment. In the absence of an end to the senseless violence and a genuine process of political reform, we will continue to pursue further EU sanctions.
It's not too late to stop the Lisbon Treaty.
Remember the No campaign is Conservative people, Labour people, people of no party.
Time is not on Gaddafi's side. People ask about the exit strategy. It's Colonel Gaddafi who needs an exit strategy because this pressure will only mount and it will be intensified over the coming days and weeks.
Those who back the Syrian regime from now on will find themselves in an even more isolated and indefensible minority.
When the Lord Chancellor violates the trust of his great office of state to solicit party donations from people whose careers he can control, and then says I'm not sorry, and I'd do it again no wonder the public think that power has gone to their heads.
We're not getting involved in terms of sending ground forces into Libya. Let's be clear about that. And indeed the UN Resolution forbids that. It says no foreign occupation of any part of Libya.
Britain does not normally these days play a huge part in peacekeeping.
Let's not be afraid to speak the common sense truth: you can't have high standards without good discipline.
I gave up lots of things I love doing: writing, and business, and playing the piano and so on.
I think the way things have been left after Iraq is that people won't believe the Government of the day, so they have to know that lessons have been learnt and that all political parties and people, whether they were for or against the invasion of Iraq, have learnt lessons.
Inspiring scenes of people taking the future of their countries into their own hands will ignite greater demands for good governance and political reform elsewhere in the world, including in Asia and in Africa.
In my view what you can't argue for is a system that is neither decisive nor proportional and can be indecisive and disproportionate at the same time. — © William Hague
In my view what you can't argue for is a system that is neither decisive nor proportional and can be indecisive and disproportionate at the same time.
It's necessary for Israelis and Palestinians to make the compromises that are required to get the direct talks back on track.
I don't think a wise thing at this moment is for Israel to launch a military attack on Iran.
There's only one growth strategy: work hard.
A generation of children has been betrayed.
I think Britain would be alright, if only we had a different Government.
People know that you can't spend more than you have.
Elected presidents are for countries.
Very few conflicts in the history of the world have been satisfactorily concluded according to a published timetable, because you lose all flexibility in dealing with your opponents.
Unless there is meaningful change in Syria and an end to the crackdown, President Assad and those around him will find themselves isolated internationally and discredited within Syria.
I still agree with the invasion of Iraq. I don't agree with most of the decisions that accompanied it.
Governments that use violence to stop democratic development will not earn themselves respite forever. They will pay an increasingly high price for actions which they can no longer hide from the world with ease, and will find themselves on the wrong side of history.
I'm going to reduce the size of the Cabinet, cut the number of ministers, reduce the size of the House of Commons, campaign for a European Parliament with 100 fewer members, halve the number of political advisers, and abolish a huge swathe of Labour's regional bureaucracies and agencies and their offices in Brussels.
When a Cabinet Minister who is sacked for telling lies is re-appointed, in the face of every constitutional convention, only for the same man to be sacked again from the same Cabinet for the same offence by the same Prime Minister no wonder the public are cynical about politics.
The British retreat is over and now the advance will begin. — © William Hague
The British retreat is over and now the advance will begin.
Governments that block the aspirations of their people, that steal or are corrupt, that oppress and torture or that deny freedom of expression and human rights should bear in mind that they will find it increasingly hard to escape the judgement of their own people, or where warranted, the reach of international law.
We have to face the reality of climate change. It is arguably the biggest threat we are facing today.
The message I take all round the world is Britain is open for business.
We are not directly involved in Syria. But we will be working with our partners in the European Union and at the United Nations to see if we can persuade the Syrian authorities to go, as I say, more in that direction of respect for democracy and human rights.
You can see over time whether people are prepared to differ or not.
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